For 40 years, Michael Myers has stalked and slashed his way through multiple chapters of the Halloween franchise, with the motivation behind his murders always tying back to a familial connection. The upcoming sequel is set to turn that mythology on its head, as the trailer for the new film confirms that Myers is not Laurie Strode’s brother.
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At one point in the new trailer, Laurie Strode’s granddaughter, played by Andi Matichak, explains how her life has been impacted by Michael’s reign of terror 40 years earlier. When a friend hints that they heard Michael was Laurie’s brother, Matichak’s character replies, “No, it was not her brother, that was something people made up.”
In 1978’s Halloween, Myers killed his sister on Halloween night and escaped from a mental facility 15 years later to return to his home of Haddonfield, Illinois. Throughout the film, audiences are wondering what motivated the killer, with an answer to the mystery never emerging by the time the credits rolled.
The film’s sequel picked up right where the original left off, as Michael pursued Laurie, played by Jamie Lee Curtis, to the hospital where she was taken after her horrific ordeal. It was in this second film that the mythology of Michael being Laurie’s long-lost brother and his intentions to kill his bloodline was revealed, which motivated many of the film’s sequels.
Halloween III: Season of the Witch abandoned Michael Myers entirely, focusing instead on a tale of a twisted mask manufacturer creating costumes that would ultimately kill children on Halloween night. With fans disappointed that the familiar killer was absent, the fourth film reintroduced the family connection, though it now extended to Laurie’s daughter, who was also the target in the fifth film.
This narrative continued in all future storylines, including the reappearance of Curtis as Strode, which negated the events of previous films. The upcoming film will once again wipe the slate clean, opening the door for new motivations for the killer.
Director of the original Halloween John Carpenter serves as executive producer on this year’s film, which is his first direct involvement in the franchise since helping craft the score for Halloween III. Carpenter has been vocal about his disinterest in the series’ sequels, though he’s at fault for creating the bloodline mythology.
“All of my ideas were for the first Halloween – there shouldn’t have been any more!” Carpenter previously shared with Deadline. “I’m flattered by the fact that people want to remake them, but they remake everything these days, so it doesn’t make me that special. But Michael Myers was an absence of character. And yet all the sequels are trying to explain that.”
“I had to write the second movie,” he added, “and every night I sat there and wrote with a six pack of beer trying to get through this thing. And I didn’t do a very good job, but that was it. I couldn’t do any more.”
The new Halloween opens in theaters on October 19th.
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