Orphan 3 in Development, “Anything Is Possible” According to Director

Last year’s Orphan: First Kill marked one of the most ambitious and inventive continuations of a horror series in recent years, but that prequel won’t be the end of the franchise, as director William Brent Bell confirmed that he’s already hard at work on a third film. Bell also explained how the key components of the series are to feature a shocking twist and to explore the complex layers of the Esther character, as played by Isabelle Fuhrman, and given both the ambitious story and filmmaking methods of First Kill, Bell confirms how virtually anything is possible for the third film.

“I definitely think Orphan as a franchise has so many variations, and unlike other franchises, whether it’s a doll or a masked killer, she’s a real character on screen like Hannibal Lecter and she’s never going to age,” Bell shared with The Hollywood Reporter. “So we really can do it, and we’re only going to get better at it. And Isabelle loves it so much. So, as long as we get excited about the stories, there are so many directions to go, and we’re developing a third one now.” 

He continued, “When I saw the writer [David Coggeshall] at a screening of Lord of Misrule a few weeks ago, we talked about his new movie, The Family Plan, and he said, ‘I just want to write Orphan movies because there’s such a freedom. You get to kind of do anything.’ And now that we’ve gone another direction with the second one, the franchise’s rulebook has been opened up to where anything is possible.”

The original movie saw a couple adopting the young Esther, whose bizarre behavior caused the parents to raise questions about her potentially violent behavior. The film’s finale would reveal that Esther was actually an adult and it was a genetic condition that made her appear as a young child, and the film ended with Esther’s death.

Despite a decade having passed, Fuhrman returned to the role to play the child-like Esther, with Bell using various cinematic tricks to give the actor the stature of a child. It’s unknown at this point where a third Orphan would fit into the overall timeline.

“David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick, who created the first one, was very much involved in the second one, and he was like, ‘The Orphan movie is about the twist. That’s what it has to have,’” the filmmaker shared. “And knowing where we are in the process already, I’m extremely excited about the twists and turns that we have in store.”

Stay tuned for updates on Orphan 3.

Are you looking forward to a third entry? Let us know in the comments or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things Star Wars and horror!