The Black Phone 2: Cast Announcement and Return of Ethan Hawke

The Return of the Cast

With a 2025 release date already set, the cast for The Black Phone 2 has been announced. The 2021 horror movie was an adaptation of Joe Hill's short story of the same name and centered on the latest victim of the serial kidnapper, The Grabber, who finds a way to communicate with the spirits of Grabber's prior victims to learn of a way to escape. Co-written and directed by Scott Derrickson with his Sinister and Doctor Strange collaborator C. Robert Cargill, The Black Phone was a critical and commercial hit upon release, grossing over $161 million against its reported $18 million production budget and quickly sparking sequel talks.

Ethan Hawke as The Grabber in The Black Phone

How The Black Phone 2 Can Bring Back Hawke's Grabber

Just a month after the movie was added to Universal and Blumhouse's release calendar, Deadline has brought word that The Black Phone 2's cast has been set. The horror sequel will see the return of its five main stars, Mason Thames, Madeleine McGraw, Jeremy Davies and Miguel Mora, as well as Ethan Hawke as The Grabber, despite the character's death in the first movie. No production start date has been revealed at the time of writing, but the movie is scheduled to hit theaters on June 27, 2025.

Ethan Hawke as the serial killer in The Black Phone

Though it seemed likely a follow-up would see the four-time Oscar nominee return, it may come as somewhat of a surprise that Hawke will be back for The Black Phone 2. The 2021 movie memorably ended with Thames' Finney seemingly killing The Grabber by taking the chord from the eponymous device and snapping the murderer's neck, escaping the house just in time to be discovered by his sister Gwen and the police. Prior to the sequel's announcement, it was left unclear whether Hawke would return, save for Hill and Derrickson teasing a great idea to keep the story going and the actor's interest in reprising the role with his Sinister director at the helm.

Ethan-Hawke-as-the-Grabber- wearing the bottom half of his mask in-The-Black-Phone

The seemingly easiest path for The Black Phone 2 to bring Hawke's Grabber back would be through supernatural means given the first movie already confirmed this to be an existing element in the story's universe. As both Finney and Gwen have some connection to the afterlife, with the former able to directly communicate with the Grabber's victims' spirits and the latter having visions that led her to saving her brother, The Grabber could haunt them from beyond the grave. This would not only allow for an interesting expansion of the villain's horrific abilities, but also create a unique dynamic between Gwen and her father as he continues to come to terms with his daughter's psychic capabilities, a point of contention between them in the first movie.

The Black Phone - Ghost Standing Next to Finney in the basement of The Grabber

Another potential way for Hawke's Grabber to return in The Black Phone 2 would be the revelation he somehow survived his fight with Finney in the first movie's ending. Though this could veer into potentially over-the-top territory, it would go to show him even more powerful than Finney and Gwen initially thought and make him a more horrific threat in the sequel. However, with Hill assuring that the sequel will not "cheapen" the original Black Phone, those who enjoyed the original should take comfort knowing that the author and both Derrickson and Cargill have a meaningful plan forward for the story.

the black phone - ethan hawke