'Halloween Kills' Bringing Back Nick Castle As The Shape, But What About 'Halloween Ends'?
In the middle of all the insanity at San Diego Comic-Con last week, Halloween creator John Carpenter announced that two more sequels would shoot back-to-back. Halloween Kills arrives on the big screen in 2020, and Halloween Ends sounds like it will complete the new thread of the franchise in 2021. Jamie Lee Curtis will be back for both of them, but it wouldn't be a Halloween movie without The Shape to stalk her, and the original actor who played Michael Myers in 1978 will be back yet again.
Nick Castle played Michael Myers in the original Halloween when he was referred to as The Shape. But since the actor was brought back to play Myers again in the retconning Halloween sequel from last year, it only makes sense that he keeps playing the role to finish the franchise. Thankfully, Castle confirmed his return for Halloween Kills on Twitter, and it looks like Michael Myers had a lovely little barbecue. We'll forgive the fact that the mask used in this crudely created image isn't the correct one.
You can't kill the boogeyman. Just heard the news. I'm coming back. pic.twitter.com/DXFsritGQB
— Nick Castle OG Shape (@ncastlez) July 25, 2019
Back during the time of the original Halloween, Castle was a film school friend of John Carpenter, which was good enough to land him the masked role. Castle earned $25 a day for playing Michael Myers in the original Halloween, though he was swapped out for actor Tony Moran for the brief moment when the audience sees the mask come off. Thanks to Castle, Myers has that haunting, slow walk and chilling stoic demeanor, and he perfectly brought it back to life in Halloween last year.
Here's a fun fact for those of you who may not know: Nick Castle is also a filmmaker who has directed such childhood classics from the 1980s as The Boy Who Could Fly and The Last Starfighter, not to mention the '90s family comedies Dennis the Menace and Major Payne. That makes it even more crazy that Castle is best known for wearing a mask in a horror franchise.
Speaking of which, it'll be interesting to see if the look of Michael Myers changes slightly between Halloween and Halloween Kills. After all, Michael Myers presumably ending up getting burned in that fire trap Laurie Strode set in her own house. Could park of the mask by melted onto his face now? Will the rest of his body be severely burned? Will he get a new mask that makes him look like one of the horrifying cats from Cats? There's just no way to know for sure.
Something else intriguing about this revelation is that the image Nick Castle posted only says Halloween Kills. Is there any chance at all that Michael Myers won't be back for Halloween Ends? Or is he merely not announcing that so as to keep the suspense of whether or not Michael Myers survives for what will be the final installment of this iteration of the franchise?
One possible outcome could see Laurie Strode's granddaughter maybe being so traumatized that she becomes a new sort of Michael Myers. That last shot of her holding the knife after being rescued in last year's Halloween always felt a little ominous to me. Plus, it's not the first time that a member of Laurie Strode's family was threatened by Michael Myers and then took a dark turn. Danielle Harris' character Jamie Lloyd, Laurie Strode's niece, stabbed her foster mother at the end of Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers:
David Gordon Green will be back to direct both Halloween sequels, and Danny McBride will again join him as co-writer. Beyond Jamie Lee Curtis, it has not been confirmed whether or not Judy Greer and newcomer Andi Matichak will be back as Laurie Strode's daughter and granddaughter respectively, but since they survived Michael's killing spree last time, it would only make sense for them to return. We'll just have to wait and see if Michael Myers makes it for Halloween Ends.Halloween Kills arrives on October 16, 2020 and Halloween Ends will follow on October 15, 2021.