David Gordon Green Reveals the One Rule Halloween's New TV Series Must Follow

So, guess what: the Halloween franchise just keeps coming back, whether anybody asked for more or not. John Carpenter and Debra Hill’s 1978 original still gets all the respect—seriously, it’s the one people talk about when they build their Mount Rushmore of slashers. But, let’s be honest, the heaps of sequels that followed in the '80s, '90s, and well into the 2000s? Not exactly cinema’s finest hours. Rob Zombie even tried his gritty reboot approach, and... yeah, the less said for now, the better.

Then David Gordon Green rolled in with his 2018 Halloween, and suddenly people cared again. Critics liked it, fans liked it—it was the first time since the original that the franchise felt, well, actually scary again. Green didn’t stop there; he wrapped up his trilogy with Halloween Kills and Halloween Ends, basically trying to put a final stake (or knife, if you prefer) into Michael Myers. Of course, all that death didn’t exactly mean the end of Halloween as a moneymaker—it just made people hungrier for whatever comes next.

The Shape of Things to Come (and Go)

If you’re keeping track, after his run in Haddonfield, Green tried his luck reviving a different horror staple: The Exorcist. He went for a direct sequel to the classic, calling it The Exorcist: Believer. On paper, it had all the right moves—legacy characters, callbacks, the same sort of nostalgia play as his Halloween run—but the magic didn’t click this time. Audiences shrugged, critics weren’t impressed, and whatever trilogy plans he and the studio had? Quietly tossed out the window.

Meanwhile, the Halloween rights found a new home on TV. In 2023, Miramax grabbed the rights and started hyping up a fresh ‘creative reset’ as a series. Not much detail there yet, but in a franchise where Michael Myers can survive anything short of a nuclear blast, there’s really no such thing as “ending.”

Green’s Horror Doctrine

Green recently gave an interview to MovieWeb while pushing his new Apple TV show Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed. He got asked the inevitable “what’s your advice for tackling big horror franchises?” Here’s what he had to say (and actually, this is pretty good advice for anybody diving into a rabid fanbase):

"Find something personal as your entrance into the franchise. Find the reason that you need to tell that story, not just be a part of the algorithm of a fan base, but make it meaningful to you... Particularly when franchises have a formidable fan base that can be very daunting to confront. If you don't believe in every moment of your storytelling, then you're just going to get eaten alive."

In plain English: if you’re just cashing a paycheck or pandering to the crowd, these long-running properties will chew you up and spit you out.

What’s Next for Michael Myers (and Friends)

Here’s where things are murky. After Green’s trilogy, Jamie Lee Curtis (aka Laurie Strode herself) had her grand return—the first since the wild mess that was Halloween: Resurrection in 2002. John Carpenter even came back to toss some synths on the soundtrack and lend his name as a producer. They wiped the timeline almost clean, ignoring all the sequels, spin-offs, and Halloween movies you’ve half-forgotten.

Now, both Curtis and Carpenter (plus most of the other folks behind Halloween Ends) have made it pretty clear: they’re done. Their sagas are finished. So, the real question is whether any new projects—like that TV series—will reboot everything from square one, or try to pick up some spooky thread that’s still dangling out there. No answers yet.

A Quick Sidebar: Exorcising the Past

Green tried a similar nostalgia trick with The Exorcist: Believer. Ellen Burstyn came back, Linda Blair had a brief appearance, and, just like in Halloween, they pretty much ignored all those other sequels that came before. But here’s the catch: The Exorcist movies have always been more about different characters and stories than a single running storyline, so connecting the dots was a tad more complicated.

Fast-forward to now. Mike Flanagan is the new guy in charge of The Exorcist, promising another shake-up. Plot? Still a secret. But the cast is better than your average horror reboot: Scarlett Johansson and Laurence Fishburne are both signed up, which is... not what I would have predicted for a franchise about demonic possession.

In Case You're Curious

• Halloween franchise TV rights: Miramax snagged them in 2023; a "creative reset" series is in the works but still top secret.
• David Gordon Green's recent projects: After Halloween Ends, he made The Exorcist: Believer (didn't land), and produced & directed the first episode of Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed for Apple TV.
• Legacy returns: Jamie Lee Curtis came back for Green's Halloween trilogy. John Carpenter signed on as producer and composer. The Exorcist: Believer had cameos from Ellen Burstyn and Linda Blair.
• New Exorcist movie: Mike Flanagan is running the show, with Scarlett Johansson and Laurence Fishburne starring. Details? Totally under wraps.

Oh, and if you want to see what Green’s up to outside of slashers and head-spinning demon stories, Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed hits Apple TV on May 20. No masked killers (as far as I know), but hey, the man keeps busy.