William Brent Bell‘s Orphan: First Kill, now playing in select theaters and streaming on Paramount+, is a follow-up we never expected to see, bringing back Isabelle Fuhrman for a prequel to the 2009 movie. Clever production techniques allow for Fuhrman to once again play Esther, a murderous 30-year-old who at first glance appears to be an innocent young girl.
First Kill travels back in time rather than moving the franchise forward, which probably has a little something to do with Esther being killed off at the end of the 2009 movie. But if we’ve learned anything over the years, it’s that horror villains are never truly dead. So is it possible that we’ll someday get a proper Orphan sequel? Or could more prequels be on the way?
Speaking with Bloody Disgusting’s The Boo Crew Podcast, First Kill director William Brent Bell discussed the potential for more Esther stories down the road. Of course, it all depends on how well First Kill is received, both financially and critically, but would Brent Bell return to the world of Esther if given the chance? And what would it take to bring him back for Orphan 3?
For starters, he would only make another one if Isabelle Fuhrman came back.
“I would never do it if Isabelle didn’t do it,” William Brent Bell tells The Boo Crew. “And it would also have to be a really cool script.”
“We talked… we joked about everything,” Brent Bell continues. “There’s 30 years of her life [that we haven’t explored]. And there’s so much life experience that we can play with. And I think because of the tone of this movie, we can go darker and lighter. Make her more in-charge, and evil, but also have even more fun at times. So of course there is [potential there].”
What about a direct sequel to the first Orphan? Esther drowns in a lake at the end of the 2009 movie, but Brent Bell notes during his chat with The Boo Crew that undoing that conclusion for the character would be easy. Should the studio want to go in that direction, the third film could begin with Esther’s hand “coming up out of the water at the beginning of the movie.”
Brent Bell even jokes with The Boo Crew about a future sequel centered on “Esther in space,” using it as a humorous example of a line he’s not willing to cross with the franchise.
You can listen to The Boo Crew’s full chat with William Brent Bell below.
The post ‘Orphan 3’? Director William Brent Bell Discusses the Possibility of More Esther Stories [Exclusive] appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.