The Final Girls 2: Director Teases Long-Awaited Sequel, 8 Years After Original Farmiga Horror-Comedy

Article Overview

Director Todd Strauss-Schulson reveals that The Final Girls never got a sequel due to not making enough money.

Screenwriters M.A. Fortin and Joshua John Miller creatively conceived a sequel that revolves around Max's father making an appearance as the antagonist from the first film. This sets the stage for an exciting showdown between Max's father and the formidable Billy Murphy in reality.

During a recent revival screening of The Final Girls, director Todd Strauss-Schulson revealed details about the unmade sequel of the slasher comedy. Despite the open-ended conclusion of the 2015 film, a sequel did not come to fruition due to its insufficient financial success. However, screenwriters M.A. Fortin and Joshua John Miller had crafted an intriguing concept for the sequel. In this sequel, Max's father, who happens to be the actor portraying Billy Murphy, would confront the escaped killer from the movie world. Please read Strauss-Schulson's complete statement below, as reported by Collider.

Believe it or not, the movie didn’t generate enough revenue to justify a sequel. However, it surprisingly developed a cult following, with annual screenings like the one in this theater. We had a great concept for a follow-up, and all the actors were eager to be a part of it, but there was one problem – 'What's Final Girls?' The basic idea that Josh and Mark had was to have the characters exist in the real world, with Billy, the actor who portrayed Billy Murphy, acting as the protagonist's father. So, the story would revolve around her and her dad navigating the real world, while the other actors have aged and become mediocre. However, real Billy, who resides in the real world, must confront actor Billy, leading to a climactic showdown amidst all the chaos.

Why The Final Girls 2 Will Probably Never Happen

The financial underperformance of The Final Girls has hindered its continuation in any form, as noted by Strauss-Schulson. The movie's box office results were insignificant due to a short limited release, coinciding with its availability on video-on-demand. According to the director, the profits generated from the digital release were insufficient to offset the film's $4.5 million budget. Nevertheless, The Final Girls remains a topic of discussion in popular culture, particularly after being compared to Prime Video's recent time travel slasher, Totally Killer.

Totally Killer features Kiernan Shipka in the lead role, where she embarks on a journey back in time to meet her teenage mother.

Despite being a cult favorite, the main hurdle to overcome is the financial disincentive as well as the challenge of reuniting the movie's ensemble cast. Although they are eager to return, many characters were left alive at the end of the film, and the majority of the actors have moved on to even bigger projects in the past eight years since The Final Girls. Alongside Farmiga and Åkerman, the talented cast includes Adam DeVine, Thomas Middleditch, Alia Shawkat, Alexander Ludwig, and Nina Dobrev from The Vampire Diaries.

Managing all these actors would probably be difficult, especially since Farmiga is the lead in one of the biggest horror movies of 2023, The Nun II. However, there are reasons why producers might be willing to risk making a sequel. One reason could be the appeal of The Final Girls' 1980s setting, which is currently popular due to the success of other retro titles like Stranger Things on Netflix.

Editor's P/S

As a hard fan of The Final Girls, I'm thrilled to hear that director Todd Strauss-Schulson is teasing a long-awaited sequel. The 2015 horror-comedy was a clever and entertaining film that paid homage to the slasher genre while also offering a unique and feminist perspective. I was disappointed that it didn't get a sequel sooner, but I'm glad that the filmmakers are still interested in continuing the story.

The sequel's premise sounds intriguing, and I'm excited to see how the filmmakers would explore the idea of Max's father being the antagonist. The original film left a lot of unanswered questions, and I'm hoping that the sequel will provide some closure. I'm also curious to see how the filmmakers would update the story for a modern audience. The original film was set in the 1980s, and I'm wondering how the filmmakers would incorporate that into the sequel.