Weapons Star Addresses Fans' Out There Elvis-Related Theory About Aunt Gladys

Ever since Zach Cregger's astoundingly fun second feature film "Weapons" hit theaters in August 2025, people have been discussing the movie's big diva Aunt Gladys Lilly, played in an Oscar-worthy performance by veteran actress Amy Madigan. Even though we are potentially getting a "Weapons" prequel centered around Gladys — a witch who basically feeds off of people's energy and turns them into highly weaponizable zombies to help her survive — part of the awesome thing about Gladys is that we don't know where the heck she came from, how old she even is, or anything concrete about her history. (She describes two "sick" people as having "a touch of consumption," which is a really old-timey phrase for illness, so that's a clue but still, that doesn't offer up a whole lot of information.) Gladys is film's antagonist, considering that she kidnaps 17 children (and a handful of adults) and uses their energy to fuel her, but she's still fascinating.

So what does Madigan think about a truly funny and deeply strange fan theory about Gladys? On Entertainment Weekly's "The Awardist" podcast, Madigan was presented with a particularly bonkers idea that her character is connected to Elvis Presley. Gladys Presley, the rock star's mother, apparently struggled with an alcohol addiction (something that's a big underlying theme in "Weapons"). Madigan was, frankly, shocked to hear about this.

"That surprised me. I mean, like, what?" Madigan responded, chuckling heartily. "People were pulling out threads of things and they interpreted it in a way, and that's the fun about it. That's what's exciting about it. ... I never would've ever thought of Elvis' mom. So it's like, yeah, go ahead and run with that. I'm not saying yes to that or no to that, but okay, that's a theory." 

Elsewhere on the podcast, Amy Madigan seemed to come to terms with the fact that, when it comes to "Weapons," Aunt Gladys has caused quite a stir. (Seriously, do me a favor and see how many Gladyses you spot during Halloween weekend.) She's eminently meme-able, a deeply captivating character, and Madigan performs her perfectly, but still, Madigan — who's been in everything from "Field of Dreams" to "Grey's Anatomy" — is reeling from the attention just a little bit. "People really like Gladys, they seem they wanna hang out with her," Madigan said on "The Awardist," still laughing a bit. "It's a big deal to come later on in my life. I'm trying to enjoy it. This is a little nerve-racking for me."

Still, Madigan acknowledged that playing Gladys in "Weapons" was "risky," and she's actually right in a larger sense; not only is the role audacious, but the ambition and scale of the project far surpasses that of Zach Cregger's directorial debut "Barbarian" (and pulls it off, frankly). After saying she knew Cregger wanted to do something "risky" and "unique," Madigan continued:

"Risky is kind of a really fun thing to participate in. I could create Gladys, and she's a big personality, and it seemed to work for this, so that was very freeing, if we talk about the word risky. It was very freeing in a way. ... Zach said to me kind of early on, 'You just wait to see how people are gonna come to Gladys.' And I kind of went, 'Oh, well, let's just see, Zach,' and we're in the middle of work. But he was actually correct." 

Part of the draw for Gladys, besides Madigan's frankly incredible performance, is her appearance. So how did that come about?

If you've seen "Weapons" — and I sure hope you have, because otherwise this entire article has spoiled quite a lot of the movie for you! — You know that the way Gladys looks isn't just puzzling and interesting. Gladys' appearance actually provides two of the film's best jump scares, appearing in the dreams of both elementary school teacher Justine Gandy (Julia Garner), who taught the class containing all of the missing children, and one of those kids' dads, Archer Graff (Josh Brolin). Seeing Gladys in both of those dreams is downright horrifying, especially because she's particularly grotesque-looking with red lipstick askew and white pancake makeup caked onto her face. Her normal appearance isn't that much better — her lipstick is smeared and absurd, her wig is utterly bizarre, and her clothes are loudly colored and baffling. According to Amy Madigan, it took a really long time to settle on the look, but it was a huge success once they figured it out.

"When we were doing some tests before everybody was around, we had the really horrible look," Madigan said of Gladys' appearance, pioneered by special makeup effects designer Jason Collins and the film's costume designer Trish Summerville. "And it took us many hours to figure that out," she recalls. "I walked in there and everyone just stopped for a minute. They were kind of [she pulls back, laughs] Zach was in sheer delight. 'cause that's what he was hoping for." 

I get why Cregger was so pleased with Madigan's appearance as Gladys, and again, if you watched the movie, you know her look is just the tip of the iceberg. "Weapons" is streaming on HBO Max now, just in time for you to get some Halloween costume inspiration from Gladys herself.