Once again, I ask: Did you see Weapons this past weekend? Did you catch a post-work screening to temper the weekday blues Monday or Tuesday? If you did, you definitely met Aunt Gladys, one of the most noteworthy characters of the new ensemble horror film by Barbarian’s Zach Cregger — and if you met her, you’d understand why the powers that be now want a prequel that focuses on her story.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, both Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema — the former of which owns the latter — have started discussions with Cregger about a prequel film that will bring audiences all the way back and expose the character’s origin story.
The outlet also claims that Cregger originally had a whole chapter of the film (which is broken down on the whole into chapters representing each of the main characters) for Amy Madigan’s Gladys, which went into a bit of her backstory.
Alas, Gladys’ backstory ended up on the cutting room floor, as the movie’s script had already become too lengthy. Though, to be fair, that does make sense as the finished product clocks in at over two hours.
That omission seems to be working in Cregger’s favor, as the movie already appears to be a big hit, both at the box office and in the zeitgeist. However, THR noted that no deal has officially been made for a second film just yet — and that’s because Cregger is already hard at work on his third feature: his Resident Evil reboot starring Weapons MVP Austin Abrams.
Cregger’s next movie is set to hit theaters on September 18, 2026 — but after that, his next move is anyone’s guess. He could go the Weapons prequel route, he could make good on the original DC script he wrote featuring Joker and Harley Quinn called Henchman, or he could even take up another complete original idea like Flood, a sci-fi script he’s already finished.
“Writer-director Zach Cregger blends unbearable tension and dark humor once more in Weapons, a horror blockbuster that’s less of a blunt-force barbarian and more of a sharp-shooting assassin,” IGN wrote in our Weapons review, scoring it 9/10.
Lex Briscuso is a film and television critic and a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. You can follow her on Twitter at @nikonamerica.
