Jamie Lee Curtis on how 'Halloween Ends' finally helped her understand the 'final girl' role

For the last 44 years, Jamie Lee Curtis has held the mantle of cinema's quintessential "final girl" — ever since the masked maniac known as Michael Myers decided to murder a collection of sexed-up Haddonfield babysitters and their boyfriends. That immortal term of "final girl", which refers to the last-remaining character in a slasher movie, didn't hold much meaning for the actress until she wrapped up production on Universal Pictures and Blumhouse's Halloween Ends (arriving in theaters everywhere this October). 

"I never really understood how important that name was until I made this last movie," Curtis recently admitted during a conversation with Salon. "And now I really understand it. And I think you'll be very happy." While she didn't divulge any plot details about the conclusory chapter in the latest Halloween trilogy directed and co-written by David Gordon Green, she did tease Ends as "deeply emotional and cathartic."

Her comments to Salon are a little more delicate than the ones she made at CinemaCon in Las Vegas, where Curtis promised the gathered audience that the third chapter is "going to f*** you up." She went on to extol her tenure as Laurie Strode, stating that the opportunity to play the character over the decades has "been the ride of my life."

SYFY WIRE caught up with the legendary John Carpenter last month and attempted to pry some teasers out of the originator of the franchise, who will provide the original score for Halloween Ends alongside his son, Cody Carpenter, and godson, Daniel Davies (the trio also scored the first two entries). "Well, it's Halloween, and it ends," the director-turned-musician joked over the phone. "You'll see it's a departure from the others. It’s interesting. Dave is a really good director. I love working with him."

Co-written by Gordon Green, Danny McBride, Chris Bernier, and Paul Brad Logan, the forthcoming slasher outing will jump four years into the future after the fateful events of Halloween 2018 and Halloween Kills. "Part of what we’re exploring is how Laurie and a few of our characters have processed those years between Halloween 2018 and that night’s events and tragedies to Halloween 2022 [tracing the journey] to where they will come to fruition in their psychological aftermath," the director explained to Fandom.

He continued: “Laurie is inspiring and definitely a survivor so that’s one of the things that I find so fascinating about her character — it’s not just good versus evil, but it’s taking a beautiful and intelligent and resilient heroine and putting her up against as many obstacles as possible, watching that adventure. Watching that journey is part of the mythology that really, really inspires me.”

Andi Matichak (Laurie's granddaughter, Allyson), Will Patton (Haddonfield police officer, Frank Hawkins), Omar Dorsey (Haddonfield's Sheriff Barker), and Kyle Richards (Laurie's longtime friend, Lindsey Wallace) are all expected to reprise their characters from the previous two films.

Halloween Ends slashes its way into theaters Friday, Oct. 14.