M. Night Shyamalan Wants 'Unbreakable' Sequel To Stand On Its Own

The more M. Night Shyamalan talks continuing David Dunn's (Bruce Willis) story, the happier we get. Just yesterday it was reported the writer-director completed his 11-page outline for his follow-up to Unbreakable. He'll typically spend months and months on an outline, but now that his one for Unbreakable 2 is finished, he can begin writing his next movie.

Shyamalan isn't revealing too many details about the film, but he recently teased an idea for the sequel and how he wants it to stand on its own. Below, the director discusses the Unbreakable sequel. (Spoilers for Split ahead.)

We'll likely see Dunn cross paths with Kevin/The Beast (James McAvoy) in the third chapter of Shyamalan's trilogy, which continues the stories of both Unbreakable and Split. Whether the sequel is Unbreakable 2 or Split 2, Shyamalan says look at it how you want. He calls it the third part of a trilogy, though.

It's been over 16 years since Unbreakable, and all of that time raises questions: How has David Dunn changed? Is he still married to Audrey (Robin Wright)? What happened to their son, Joseph (Spencer Treat Clark)? We probably won't have the answers to those questions for a while, but while on the Happy Sad Confused Podcast, Shyamalan discussed what's possibly become of David and Elijah Price (Samuel L. Jackson):

My thought bubble would be—again don't hold me to this—but Elijah never got out of the institution. He was just a guy who believed this, but David doesn't quite 100% believe it that way, he just thinks that he is particularly meant to do this and is kind of faded a little bit. Like this idea of comic books that Elijah was saying the comic book world is based on reality, that it's real—there's no other evidence for this. It's this crazy guy who has this bone disorder who's in an insane asylum. But then this comes up and he's like, 'Oh my God, he's right.'

Shyamalan confirmed Jackson wants to play Mr. Glass again. The actor has expressed interest in returning to the role before, so that's not surprising. The director went on to say he wants the movie to be more than Unbreakable 2. It needs a bigger idea than "the final Unbreakable":

All I can say is this: If Unbreakable was about a guy who is the only person who survives a train wreck, everyone dies and he doesn't have a scratch on him. How is that possible? That's a high concept, really cool story. And then this one is three girls get abducted by a person that has this disorder that he believes he's many people, and all of the different personalities are saying there's another personality coming to get them, it's called The Beast. That in and of itself is a really cool thing. This third movie needs to have its own idea. The high concept of that final movie can't be, 'It's the final Unbreakable.' There has to be something about that that makes it its own movie... That's when I'll be happiest, is when it's its own movie. In a way, it could be watched by itself.

Shyamalan added his outline for the Unbreakable sequel is his longest outline yet, which concerns him, but he says it needs to be "kind of epic":

I have a pretty detailed outline of like beats, scenes. It's very long, which is worrying me, but I don't see how we can—probably by its nature it needs to be kind of epic. The storyline that I've thought through feels very intricate.

The Split director told Empire it has "so many characters." "I already know all the characters, or most of them," he said. "I know 80% of the characters, so the discovery process isn't there." So far, he's having an easy time writing it, which also worries him. Shyamalan said a part of the fun of following Kevin again, not just David, is creating more of his 23 personalities.