John Carpenter Expects More Michael Myers if Halloween Ends "Makes a Lot of Money"

Like evil, Halloween never dies. The long-running horror franchise created by director John Carpenter and co-writer Debra Hill will finish the 40-year feud between OG final girl Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) and masked killer Michael Myers (James Jude Courtney) in Halloween Ends, the final chapter of David Gordon Green's rebooted trilogy. A sequel to Carpenter's classic 1978 original and the Green-directed 2018 Halloween and 2021's Halloween Kills, the 13th film in the slasher saga is the last time Curtis will portray Haddonfield's resident survivor. But like the Shape — who has been shot, stabbed, burned alive, resurrected, and rebooted — Halloween keeps coming back. 

According to Carpenter, who executive produces the new movie hitting theaters October 14, there's only one thing that can kill Michael Myers: bad box office. 

"I didn't expect there to be a sequel [to Halloween '78]. The movie business is ruled by money. [The first] Halloween made so much money, here they came again, the same guys [saying], 'Hey John, let's do another one,'" Carpenter said when asked about 1981's Halloween II during a panel appearance at Pennsylvania's Steel City Convention. "I guarantee you if Halloween Ends makes a lot of money, guess what? Just guess what."  

The 1978 original, which starred Curtis opposite Donald Pleasence's Shape-stalking Dr. Loomis, remains the only Halloween film fully directed by Carpenter. After co-writing Halloween II and producing its Michael Myers-less follow-up, 1982's Halloween III: Season of the Witch, Carpenter wouldn't return to the franchise until he executive produced and composed the score for 2018's Halloween. 

"I don't care about the Halloween sequels," Carpenter said later about the franchise revived with 1988's Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers, continuing through the 1990s and 2000s. "I made the first one as a director, and that's the only one I care about except for the paycheck I get for the others."

Carpenter added: "I hate to be that kind of a guy, but that's the truth."

Halloween Ends has promised a final battle to the death between Laurie Strode and Michael Myers, who Carpenter noted is "not really a man, he's a force of evil." 

"He's just a force of nature, he has no character. He's pure evil. And you cannot kill him, really," Carpenter said, giving away what may be considered a spoiler for the finale: "Although, wait until you see Halloween Ends. Wait until you see it."

Starring Jamie Lee Curtis, Andi Matichak, Will Patton, Kyle Richards, Omar Dorsey, and James Jude Courtney, Universal Pictures and Blumhouse release Halloween Ends on October 14.