Vivien Lyra Blair spoke to The Direct about sequel prospects for her newest horror film, The Boogeyman.
The movie, based on an iconic short story from Stephen King, follows two sisters grieving over the sudden loss of their mother. Due to some additional unfortunate circumstances, things get a lot worse when a supernatural parasitic presence attaches itself to the family.
As it currently stands, The Boogeyman is set to make $12-15 million domestically at the box office for its opening weekend. While it’s not the strongest debut, its competition is Across the Spider-Verse, so the odds were never great for anything much higher.
But could there still be a sequel? The movie certainly opens the door to the possibility.
Vivien Lyra Blair Speaks on Sequel Prospects
While talking exclusively with The Direct’s Russ Milheim, The Boogeyman star Vivien Lyra Blair spoke on the possibility of a sequel.
What’s next for Blair's character Sawyer Harper? According to the actress, she won’t be escaping the trauma The Boogeyman gave her anytime soon, “especially since it was right after… their mom died:”
“Well, I don’t know. I think after something like that, there’s really not much you can do to kind of, quote-unquote, get your life back. I think you’re always gonna kind of be scarred from that experience, especially since it was right after this tragic incident where their mom died.”
She continued, explaining how “it’s gonna be hard to recover from that,” but she really “hope[s] that [they] get to do [a sequel]:”
“I think it’s gonna be hard to kind of recover from that, and I think it could definitely go some different directions on what could happen next. But I really hope that we get to do it, and I really hope that we get to see how the Harpers do after this experience and The Boogeyman comes back.”
When asked what the hardest part of the movie was, being “really scared” was “probably the emotion [she] struggled most with:”
“That’s really difficult, because I think, a lot of it, I was able to do pretty well. But I think anything where I had to be really scared, that’s probably the emotion I struggled most with. But I was actually pretty impressed with myself on how I did on this one. It definitely got me more into tune with that emotion as an actor.”
Where a Boogeyman Sequel Could Go
With how the film ended, it’s hard to imagine that the Harpers are simply out of the woods. As viewers witnessed, if someone can hear The Boogeyman egging them on, then things aren’t going to go very well.
But a direct continuation isn’t the only possible approach.
A sequel could always take the form of a prequel. Maybe viewers can witness what happened to Lester Billings and his family.
Or the story could go even further back, exploring how The Boogeyman came to be an urban legend in the first place.
Hopefully, despite the movie’s Spider-Man competition, the latest Stephen King adaptation can be successful enough to warrant further exploration of its terrifying concept.
The Boogeyman is now playing in theaters worldwide.
