The Omen Prequel Being Developed by Legion Director

More than 15 years after the last installment hit theaters, 20th Century Studios is moving forward on a prequel to the 1976 film The Omen, currently titled “The First Omen.” The picture is set to come from Legion and Briarpatch episodic director Arkasha Stevenson, who will be making her feature-film directing debut. Stevenson will be collaborating with writing partner Tim Smith to rewrite the current version of the script. There are currently no details about what the narrative will explore, which will surely leave fans scratching their heads about what could be explored in a narrative that takes place before what is presumed to be an origin story.

The original The Omen focuses on a young boy who seems to be the center of supernatural activity and, while investigating the bizarre occurrences, the father ends up believing that the boy is actually the Antichrist, which is largely confirmed in the two follow-up films. The last entry in the series was the 2006 reboot of the concept.

A key component of the narrative of the original film is that the father, played by Gregory Peck, learns in the opening scenes that his actual child died during childbirth but is offered the opportunity to adopt a boy whose mother died while giving birth. In this regard, it could seem likely that The First Omen could center around this woman who ended up giving birth to the demonic “Damien” and how such a child came into existence.

In addition to working on Legion, Stevenson also collaborated with filmmaker Nick Antosca on the TV shows Channel Zero: Butcher’s Block and Brand New Cherry Flavor.

Back in 2020, The Conjuring writers Chad and Carey W. Hayes had confirmed that they had written a script for a The Omen prequel that had stagnated due to the merger between The Walt Disney Company and 20th Century Fox. It would seem as though Stevenson and Smith will be rewriting that project for this new installment.

“We did the prequel to The Omen, which is also sitting over at Fox, that, rumor has it, that it is going into production,” Chad previously shared with ComicBook.com. “So we’ll see what happens.”

Carey added, “We get to tell you where Damien came from. It was really fun. That was great.”

Stay tuned for details on The First Omen.

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