Halloween: New Details Emerge Revealing Laurie is No Longer Michael’s Sister

There have been many Halloween movies. Many, many, many Halloween movies. There have been sequels, spin-offs, retcons, remakes, reboots, and “endings.” And sequels to the endings too. Still, it is possible that David Gordon Green and Danny McBride’s long anticipated Halloween sequel due out this October will be something entirely unexpected: It just might be something different.

Indeed, details have emerged from the Halloween trailer that played at CinemaCon, which reveal that when Green and McBride said this would be a direct sequel to only 1978’s Halloween, they weren’t kidding. For starters, they’re doing away with what has been the crux of all the Halloween sequels since 1981: that Michael Myers is stalking Jamie Lee Curtis’ Laurie Strode because she is his little sister.

These details, which were relayed by IndieWire, emerged from a trailer cut specifically for CinemaCon audiences. According to those in the room, the trailer begins with the revelation that Michael Myers has spent the last 40 years in an asylum, much like how he spent his entire adolescence in the original 1978 film. Further in the meantime, urban legends and myths have swirled about the enigmatic killer, including some claiming that the only survivor of his rampage in the ‘70s was his sister.

further reading: Halloween Ending Explained

But no, Curtis’ Laurie appears in the trailer still living in Haddonfield and says, “I pray every night that he would escape… so I could kill him.”

This is an intriguing revelation which most clearly differentiates the film from the previous Halloween reimaginings, including the last time Curtis returned the role of Laurie after a long sabbatical, Halloween: H20. That film, released in 1998 during the 20th anniversary, depicted Laurie as still recovering from the trauma of the events of the original movie (like this upcoming film), but she is also Michael’s little sister who is trying to protect a son from being the next extended family member slaughtered.

This, however, returns to the original and mostly forgotten dread of the first film where Laurie and her friends were selected by Michael at total random; he did it because Laurie was the first young woman he saw from his childhood home after he escaped. Returning to that original pretense of evil simply is, man, will likewise probably benefit from John Carpenter producing the film.

Considering how much some of the sequels, and especially the remakes/reboots masterminded by Rob Zombie, made much out of the “broken family” angle to Michael Myers, this is a pretty major departure for the franchise. As is the idea that Michael spent 40 years in an asylum. This is, again, informed by the original film in which he spent close to 20 years also in an asylum.

Given that David Gordon Green (Snow Angels, George Washington) is directing this from a script he co-wrote with his longtime collaborator McBride (including work on television’s gloriously demented Eastbound & Down), we’re willing to see just where this leads by going home. Home to Haddonfield for the holidays.

Halloween opens Oct. 19.