These M. Night Shyamalan Movies All Deserve Sequels

It feels like a completely different time, but not too long ago, finding out that M. Night Shyamalan was working on a new movie got film fans around the world eager with anticipation. Unfortunately, after a string of critical and financial flops, fans began to fear learning about the filmmaker’s involvement in a film, as his name began being synonymous with “failure.”

After The Visit debuted, fans took note of Shyamalan’s return to the horror genre that helped him make a name for himself. Audiences and critics mostly enjoyed the film and things began to turn around for the filmmaker. With Split having topped the box office over the weekend, it looks like public opinion of the filmmaker has begun to change, restoring Hollywood’s faith in the filmmaker.

Videos by ComicBook.com

One of the most talked about facets of Split is an implied connection to one of Shyamalan’s other films, which makes fans of his earlier works excited that he’ll return to previous hits to expand their stories. Here are some films we think would be perfect for another installment!

Which of Shyamalan’s films do you want to see a sequel to? Let us know in the comments!

MORE NEWS: M. Night Shyamalan Scorecard: Is He A Good Filmmaker? / Split Review: The Shyamalan Comeback Continues / M. Night Shyamalan Wants To Make An Unbreakable TV Show / Is M. Night Shyamalan’s Tales From The Crypt TV Reboot Dead? / M. Night Shyamalan Defends Avatar: The Last Airbender

Unbreakable (2000)

Ever since Unbreakable came out in theaters, Shyamalan discussed the film’s origins, saying how he aimed to write a super hero movie but could only really ever create the character’s origin story and the discovery of their powers. Considering it’s been 17 years since the film’s release, we hope that the director has figured out a way to work on the next two acts in the character’s arc and we finally get to see the heroics of an “unbreakable” David Dunn. With Christopher Nolan no longer making super hero films, it’s a perfect time for Shyamalan to bring a more cinematic quality to the genre than what we’ve seen in recent years.

[H/T YouTube/TouchstoneOnDemand’s Channel‘]

Signs (2002)

In Signs, we saw the first contact between humans and aliens that was coordinated through the use of crop circles. Considering the most effective elements of creating fear and unease in audiences came from the unpredictable nature of how that first contact would go, that element would be completely absent in a sequel. However, if the film chose to explore another part of the world that the aliens invaded, it could repeat the effectiveness of something like 10 Cloverfield Lane, which was more of a “side-quel” than a true sequel.

[H/T YouTube/klappozita]

The Village (2004)

The climax in The Village was one of the last times Shyamalan used a final “twist” in his films, and the emphasis of that twist by audiences discredited the compelling story of traditions and overprotectiveness of the story as a whole. With the twist out of the way, were Shyamalan to revisit the community in The Village, we could see the continuing efforts of the community elders to shield their children from the outside world, or maybe we could even explore the concept that the fictional creatures that lived in the woods had some truth to them. It’s also possible that the director could show the creation of the community and, rather than a sequel, we could see an engaging and dramatic prequel.

[H/T YouTube/TouchstoneOnDemand’s channel]

Split (2017)

Without giving too much of the film away, there are some unanswered questions at the end of Split that could be tied up in a future installment. The film explores themes of how trauma in your childhood could leave psychological ramifications that you feel throughout your life, so the story was left open to see how the effects of this film impacted the characters. Also, Split drew connections to other films in Shyamalan’s filmography, so were those connections to continue to grow, the filmmaker could take the shared universe into some really fantastic places.

[H/T YouTube/Movieclips Trailers]

The Last Airbender (2010)

There’s no doubt that The Last Airbender is the biggest flop of Shyamalan’s career, both financially and critically being one of Shyamalan’s biggest disappointments. However, considering the success of the Avatar: The Last Airbender animated series, one flop shouldn’t complete ruin all hopes of seeing a good film based on the characters. It should be noted that, even though the film itself deserves a sequel, that doesn’t mean Shyamalan should have any involvement in the creation of a sequel, so seeing a different filmmaker tackle the story could right the wrongs from the original film.