‘Halloween’ Sequel Casting Call Teases Return to Iconic Location

John Carpenter’s 1978 Halloween is a masterpiece in horror cinema thanks to countless moments of fear and terror. Minutes into the movie, audiences are taken to Smith’s Grove Sanitarium, a mental health facility that houses the horrifying Michael Myers. A recent casting call for the upcoming Halloween sequel may hint that the film will return to the iconic location.

A casting call for the film reads, “1 African American and Hispanic MALE to portray Criminally Insane Patient.” It’s possible these characters could be located at any mental health facility, but co-writers Danny McBride and David Gordon Green regularly emphasized how big of an inspiration the original film is on this sequel, so it would make the most sense to revisit the location from the original film’s early scenes.

What makes the location so fascinating is that Michael resided there without ever wearing a mask, despite masks becoming a staple of the franchise in the future. McBride has also hinted that their film will feature a slightly different timeline and utilize an alternate ending for the character.

“We’re kind of ignoring all the films past the first one,” McBride told Yahoo!. “It picks up after the first one, but it’s sort of an alternate reality. It’s as if the first Halloween ended in a slightly different way.”

The original ending featured Michael being shot by Dr. Loomis (Donald Pleasence) and falling out of a window, only for Loomis to see that Michael got up and disappeared, allowing him to wreak havoc in Halloween II. If McBride and Green are using a “slightly different” ending, then perhaps it could end with Michael not escaping and being taken back to Smith’s Grove Sanitarium.

In 2007, director Rob Zombie gave audiences a remake of Halloween which focused almost the entire first half at the sanitarium, exploring how Michael became fascinated with masks and his relationship to Dr. Loomis. This element of the film ended up being something fans were disappointed with, preferring that the character remained a mystery. With the poor reception of those plot points, we wouldn’t think this new sequel would explore much of that aspect of the character.

Additionally, original actor Nick Castle, who played the masked Michael Myers, is reprising his role as the character, being billed as “The Shape” in the sequel as opposed to “Michael Myers.”

The Halloween sequel is slated to hit theaters on October 19.

[H/T ProjectCasting]