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Could 'Malignant' return? Annabelle Wallis teases 'conversations' happening for horror sequel
The return of Gabriel could be closer than we think.
Malignant is one of the wildest horror films we've seen this year, a crazy ride of jump scares, big plot twists, and even all-out action sequences featuring the film's bizarre killer, Gabriel. It's director James Wan's attempt to use all the genre clout he's built over the years to go all-out with a new story, and it pays off in very fun ways, but it's also not necessarily the kind of movie you'd think would get a sequel. Or is it?
Speaking to Screen Rant this week to promote her new dark comedy Silent Night, Malignant star Annabelle Wallis noted that the team behind the film have definitely been discussing the possibility of a follow-up movie already.
"There's plenty of ideas swirling around," Wallis said. "We were very, very flattered by the reception and I think taken aback by the reception. So yeah, there's lots of conversations happening."
Directed by Wan from a script by Akela Cooper, Malignant follows Madison (Wallis), a young woman whose past comes back to haunt her when a head injury seems to re-awaken a dark force from her childhood, one that previously manifested as a kind of imaginary friend, but now seems to take the form of a very real killer, named Gabriel. If you haven't seen it yet, I'm hesitant to say anything more that might spoil some of the film's wilder moments, but suffice to say it's Wan swinging for the fences both visually and narratively, using all the goodwill he's built among genre fans to really just go for it.
“I don't like to repeat myself, and that was a lot of the driving force behind making Malignant,” Wan told SYFY WIRE ahead of the film's release over the summer. “I just want to come up with an original story that allows me the freedom to experiment.”
Though Malignant wraps up with a fairly satisfying horror movie conclusion, there are elements within that ending that would certainly allow easy access for a second story if Wan and company want to return to it. What that story might be beyond the original entry point isn't clear, but what is clear is that if Malignant 2 actually happens, we'll be there on opening day.
