The Strangers: Chapter 1 Director Breaks Down Full Trilogy Plans

2008’s The Strangers is getting a unique kind of reboot here in 2024. Director Renny Harlin is bringing to life a new vision of The Strangers for Lionsgate, this time as an entire trilogy. The Strangers: Chapter One hits theaters on May 17th, with Madelaine Petsch and Froy Gutierrez taking on the lead roles. The three films planned were all shot at the same time, so there are two more coming no matter what. This first entry isn’t just the starter for the saga, but will serve as Act 1 for what is essentially a much longer movie.

Ahead of The Strangers: Chapter 1 debuting in theaters, director Renny Harlin spoke with ComicBook about how this new franchise starter begins the story of his trilogy.

“Yes, I would definitely say that,” Harlin said of this new movie serving as the first act of a larger story. “We, of course, shot them on top of each other and mixed up, like movies are always made. But we had to keep in mind that this is one story arc. It is one 4.5 hour movie, and the first movie is a first act. It sets up the characters and the terror and the Killers and our main character, who will survive the first movie, but then go on a journey for the next two.”

The second and third films in Harlin’s Strangers trilogy don’t yet have release dates, but the director believes Chapter 2 could arrive on the big screen as soon as this fall.

“If it had been a straight remake or a sequel, I wouldn’t have done it at this point of my life,” Harlin told Variety. “I have such respect for the original film and am somewhat intimidated by the quality of it. Simply doing a sequel or remake didn’t appeal to me, but this was such an opportunity to have four and a half hours of a case study of victims of a violent crime and the perpetrators and what makes them tick and how it affects a person who goes through this.”

Here’s how The Strangers: Chapter 1 is described:

“From master director Renny Harlin (Cliffhanger, Die Hard 2, The Exorcist: The Beginning) comes a new trilogy of terror. In Chapter I, Madelaine Petsch (TV’s Riverdale) stars as a young woman starting a new life with her fiancé. Suddenly, during a road trip stop in a remote vacation rental in the woods, they become the prey of a mysterious gang of masked strangers who attack without warning or reason. What begins as a fight to stay alive becomes one woman’s journey of courage and cunning in this horror series bridging three compelling films.”