'Halloween Ends' co-writer addresses 'valid' criticisms, explains the film's swerve

Every Halloween sequel, going all the way back to Halloween II more than 40 years ago, has its passionate defenders and its frustrated detractors, but Halloweens Ends felt particularly divisive among fans when it came along last year. The film's efforts to simultaneously wrap up the fight between Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) and Michael Myers (James Jude Courtney) and introduce a new threat to Haddonfield as a kind of dark mirror to the original killings didn't sit right with quite a few viewers and, well, co-writer Danny McBride gets it. 

McBride, best known for writing and starring in comedy hits like Eastbound and Down and The Righteous Gemstones, teamed up with director David Gordon Green to work on all three Halloween films in the legacy trilogy that kicked off back in 2018. For a lifelong Halloween fan, it was both a big opportunity and a big responsibility, particularly when it came time to take some of the trilogy's more ambitious creative swings. One particular creative swing -- the introduction of new killer Corey Cunningham (Rohan Campbell) in Halloween Ends -- irked many of the final film's viewers, and while McBride understands why, he also understands the need to introduce new story elements even when you're coming to the end of a narrative, even if that meant focusing less on Michael Myers.

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“I think that is a valid criticism,” McBride told Us Weekly when addressing the fan complaints that Ends didn't feature enough Michael. “All three of these movies was really David Green’s sort of brainchild. He had a very distinct idea of what he wanted to do with this. And I just felt lucky that he brought me along for the ride to help him where I could and to try to give him anything I could on it. And when he told me his pitch for focusing on this Corey character, I thought that it was cool. I thought it was a smart take on it. I thought that it was a way to avoid repetition and sort of explore something a little different and still tying it into what Halloween’s ultimately about.”

But even with the introduction of new story elements and a major narrative arc for Laure Strode's granddaughter Allyson (Andi Matichak), Halloween Ends still managed to...well, end. The film killed off Michael Myers and sent Laurie off on a journey of healing and recovery, closing out the franchise. Or at least, this version of the franchise. While he's well aware that he and his collaborators ended the story, McBride's also very aware that you can't kill the boogeyman, and that Michael could very well make another appearance in the future.

“I feel like we had a blast creating this and making this and it kind of feels like we have put our thumbprint on it," he said.  "And I think, I mean, never say never [to coming back to write more], but I would be interested to see what else is out there, what else somebody can do with this."

Check out Halloween Ends on digital now.