The Purge 6: Actor Frank Grillo Reveals Major Update for Upcoming Sequel (Exclusive)

By Spencer Perry

Though the first movie in The Purge film franchise was a home-invasion thriller, the Blumhouse series really explored its premise with its sequels. Central to those was Frank Grillo as Leo Barnes, appearing in The Purge: Anarchy and The Purge: Election Year. Two more Purge movies have been released since then but no Leo Barnes was to be seen. Speaking with ComicBook.com for the film One Day as a Lion (now playing in select theaters and available digitally on April 7th), Grillo confirmed to us that work on a sixth film in the series has been happening for some time and that it would not only bring back his character but apparently conclude the entire Purge franchise too.

"(James DeMonaco's) got the script, man," Grillo revealed. "The script has been written, he submitted it to Universal. Went to (Jason) Blum, Michael Bay. There's a lot of cooks in the kitchen. But it's Leo Barnes centric. It's about Leo Barnes and it's really was the Swan Song for the series. I know they've said that before, but James only directed one, two, and three. The last movie he directed was "Election Year" and he's only been involved as a producer going forward from there, but he wants to direct this. I'm like,  before I start walking on the cane, it'd be a good idea to do it soon. But Universal and Blum haven't, uh, they just kind of have it on the back burner. It was hot, it was hot for a minute. It was hot for a minute, and then it wasn't."

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As horror fans know good and well, any time a franchise proudly proclaims that it's latest movie is its last then it will almost certainly return for more. Friday the 13th famously subtitled the fourth movie in the series "The Final Chapter" only for six more sequels, a crossover, and a reboot to be released in the years later. A Nightmare on Elm Street had a similar path, titling its sixth film in the series "Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare," only to bring about one more sequel, a crossover (with Friday the 13th), and a reboot. Even Saw called its seventh film Saw: The Final Chapter, only to two more movies with a tenth on the way this year.

In total the five movies in The Purge series that have been released so far have a reported combined budget of $53 million but at the global box office the cumulative total of the series has been $$535 million worldwide. Considering that kind of return on investment, and that 2021's The Forever Purge managed to $76.9 million during the pandemic era, no one should be surprised when The Purge 6 finally happens. Hopefully Frank will be there to tell us about it.

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