Filmmaker James Wan has birthed iconic horror franchises like Saw, Insidious, and The Conjuring, but with his previous horror effort Malignant being released during the coronavirus pandemic, the project didn’t earn quite the same immediate excitement as his previous offerings. Still, the movie has developed a cult following in the years since its release and fans have hoped to see the monstrous Gabriel return in future films, with star Maddie Hasson being just as excited about a potential sequel, if only to embrace her character’s hairstyle. As fans wait to see a possible Malignant sequel, they can see Hasson in Elevation, which hits theaters on November 8th.
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When asked by ComicBook about whether the movie could get a sequel, Hasson confirmed, “Oh, I hope it does. I don’t know. I hope it does, I had so much fun doing that movie. And then I can get bangs again, which we all want.”
In the 2021 movie, Madison (Annabelle Wallis) seems to be at the center of a variety of brutal deaths, sparking speculation about a supernatural presence being in her orbit. The film revealed that Madison had a parasitic twin that resided within her and managed to take control of her body to commit murders, with this twin being known as “Gabriel.” Hasson played Madison’s adoptive sister Sydney.
While they all had humble origins, Wan’s Saw, Insidious, and The Conjuring have all gone on to become major horror franchises, with the three series having earned more than 20 installments to date, including spinoffs, sequels, and prequels. Part of the reason these stories earned sprawling franchises is due to fan demand, so with Malignant being released during the coronavirus pandemic both in theaters and on HBO Max, it failed to make a major mark at the box office. Previously, Wan expressed how fan demand for more stories in this world would motivate such an exploration.
“That’s pretty much what I do from the very start, and not so much thinking that, ‘Oh, there’ll be a sequel for this,’ but I try to, with all my films, I try to have an idea of what the bigger world would look like, the umbrella universe, if you will. That way, when I make this particular film, I know what is happening at every moment of the film, at every moment of the storytelling, if you will,” Wan expressed to ComicBook.com back in 2022. “Because I know the bigger world that the story takes place in, there are potentially other stories to tell, and that usually is dictated by what the audience wants. If they want more stories, then I have more stories to pull into it. That’s my approach, even all the way back to my first film with Saw, is I do know the bigger world, like [writer] Leigh [Whannell] and I knew the bigger world, and if we were fortunate enough to tell other stories, we have stories ready to tell.”
He added, “Same with Insidious, same with The Conjuring. In the case of The Conjuring, it’s a more obvious one, right? Because the Warrens, it’s based on these real-life people who have investigated many cases, and so that’s a more obvious one to pull from. But the same with the Aquaman world, as well. I create this world, and then within that, you can tell many different stories within the universe.”
As fans wait for updates on a Malignant sequel, they can see Hasson in Elevation. The movie is described, “Set in the post-apocalyptic Rocky Mountains, a single father and two women venture from the safety of their homes to face monstrous creatures to save the life of a young boy.” Also starring in Elevation are Anthony Mackie, Morena Baccarin, and Danny Boyd Jr.
Stay tuned for updates on a potential Malignant followup. Elevation lands in theaters on November 8th.
