Malignant Star Confirms Talks of a Sequel Have Happened

Filmmaker James Wan delivered horror fans his latest entirely original and inventive experience back in September with Malignant, with star of the film Annabelle Wallis recently confirming that there have been talks of a possible sequel. Like most of Wan’s films, the debut of the movie resulted in a lot of discourse among the horror community, with some audiences loving and others hating the ambitious experience, but with its simultaneous debut both in theaters and on HBO Max, Malignant became one of the most talked-about experiences of the Halloween season. Malignant hits Blu-ray and DVD on November 30th.

When discussing with ScreenRant if she has spoken with Wan about sequels, Wallis confirmed, “We have. There’s plenty of ideas swirling around. We were very, very flattered by the reception and I think taken aback by the reception. So yeah, there’s lots of conversations happening.”

In Malignant, Madison (Annabelle Wallis) is paralyzed by shocking visions of grisly murders, but her torment worsens as she comes to discover that the horrifying waking dreams are, in fact, terrifying realities. You can check out the new trailer for yourself in the video above. In addition to Wallis, Malignant stars Maddie Hasson (Mr. Mercedes), George Young (Containment), Michole Briana White (Dead to Me), Jacqueline McKenzie (Palm Beach), Jake Abel (Supernatural), McKenna Grace (Captain Marvel), and Ingrid Bisu (The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It). Bisu co-wrote and executive produced the film with Wan, and other producers include Wan’s Atomic Monster partner Michael Clear.

From Saw to Insidious to The Conjuring, Wan has a habit of debuting original horror stories that go on to ignite sprawling franchises and earn multiple follow-up installments, so it should come as no surprise that he has once again crafted a new universe with a number of storytelling opportunities. Wan previously detailed the many influences he drew from to develop the film and how it serves as a love letter to unconventional genre experiences of the ’80s and ’90s.

“I would describe it best as it’s the kind of movie, if we were living in the ’80s or early ’90s, we would go to the local video store, go down to the back, to the very end, where the horror section or the science-fiction would be. And we would go even deeper into the very back shelves,” Wan explained to ComicBook.com. “And we would pick up some movie we would have never heard of before, but it would have the coolest poster art on it. It’d be like ‘Evil 9-9-9,’ or ‘6-6-6.’ And then that was the movie that you can go, ‘Oh, this is cool. Let me take you back and see what this is. And that’s how I kind of describe Malignant as being, if it came out in the late ’80s or early ’90s. But of course, I would want to kind of try and elevate it beyond the sort of exploitation, lurid level of those films and actually, and try and class it up a bit.”

He added, “Again, I love those movies. Those films to me, those movies on the back of the shelves that are not famous at all, that are unpopular were the films that really, I would say, inspire me the most growing up. And those were the films that really fired my imagination the most. And so in a lot of ways, it really is a tribute to those back shelf movies you find in the horror section at your local video stores, but doing it at the level that I’ve been making my movies at really.”

Stay tuned for details on a possible Malignant sequel.

Are you hoping Malignant gets a follow-up? Let us know in the comments below or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things Star Wars and horror!