John Carpenter teases 'Halloween Ends' will be 'departure' from first two films in new trilogy

When Michael Myers returns to the big screen this fall, don't expect the same old slasher fest as the previous two installments in the rebooted Halloween trilogy directed and co-written by David Gordon Green. SYFY WIRE recently caught up with John Carpenter over the phone to celebrate the 40th anniversary of The Thing, and we just couldn't resist asking the celebrated filmmaker/musician about Halloween Ends, which he's scoring alongside his son, Cody Carpenter, and godson, Daniel Davies.

"Well, it's Halloween, and it ends," he answered with a little chuckle. "You'll see it's a departure from the others. It’s interesting. Dave is a really good director. I love working with him." Carpenter didn't elaborate beyond that, though it's already been confirmed that the film takes place four years after the events of Halloween 2018 and Halloween Kills — both of which unfolded on the same blood-soaked evening. Jamie Lee Curtis and Andi Matichak are slated to return as Laurie Strode and granddaughter Allyson, respectively.

While story details are still under wraps, it's probably safe to assume that the plot revolves around the remaining Strode women setting out to kill the Shape once and for all. Principal photography on Ends concluded earlier this year, with a poignant Instagram message written by producer Ryan Turek. Gordon Green — who shares screenplay credit with Danny McBride, Chris Bernier, and Paul Brad Logan — spoke with SYFY WIRE last year and admitted that if left to his own devices, he'd continue the franchise indefinitely.

"I’m trying to restrain myself and behave and wrap it up in a conclusive way,” he added. “Because if I look at it as a personal opportunity for me to play with the characters and the world that John Carpenter and Debra Hill created, I wanna make it very contained and controllable. I want to be a curator of the property for a minute and I wanna do some quality control for lack of a better term and have some fun in that wheelhouse and then say goodnight and let the next generation and the next filmmaker and the next great creative idea take over with that mythology."

Even if the director was offered the opportunity to make more Halloween movies, he'd have to respectfully decline, as his hands are about to be incredibly full with a trilogy of Exorcist films exclusively coming to Peacock in the near future. Ellen Burstyn is locked in to reprise the character of Chris MacNeil (mother of Linda Blair's possessed Regan in the 1973 original), while Hamilton star Leslie Odom Jr. has been cast in an undisclosed role.

“What I hope to do with The Exorcist is the same thing we did with Halloween,” horror producer extraordinaire Jason Blum remarked last fall. "Halloween, the first [John Carpenter] movie, was great — and the second movie was okay…and the rest of them were not very good. And then we came in and kind of...re-jiggered it. And people liked it. So I hope we can do the same thing with The Exorcist.”

Of course, we couldn't let Mr. Carpenter go without touching on the subject of that Big Trouble in Little China reboot hailing from Dwayne Johnson, which has yet to move forward in earnest beyond comments made by Johnson's producing partner last summer. "You know, that's true," Carpenter said when reminded of The Rock's interest in the property. "He was, but now that you bring it up, I met with, I believe, it was his representatives or somebody [who] knew him. I said, ‘Well, it’s his move.’ And that’s all I’ve heard."

Halloween Ends will slash its way into theaters Friday, Oct. 14 by way of Universal Pictures and Blumhouse.