It’s Official—’Weapons’ Is Getting A Prequel About Aunt Gladys

Amy Madigan’s Aunt Gladys will be seen again in the upcoming Weapons prequel

Warner Bros.

Weapons proved a major hit with audiences and critics, grossing more than $260 million worldwide, and the hit horror film is getting an official prequel, with original writer/director Zach Cregger returning.

“It is real and I’ve been talking to Warner Bros. about it,” Cregger told Fangoria in an interview. “There’s a story and I’m pretty excited about it. It’s not bullshit.”

Cregger has been open about the fact that he has another story to tell in the Weapons universe, with early rumors of a prequel having been sparked soon after the film’s release.

“I was ready,” Cregger said. “I had it kind of in my pocket before the movie came out.”

What Is ‘Weapons’ About?

Weapons kicks off with a gripping mystery, in the aftermath of a mass disappearance, with almost every child from a single classroom leaving their beds in the middle of the night and running off.

The film follows the clashing perspectives of multiple protagonists, closing with the only child left in the classroom, Alex (Cary Christopher), who knows exactly what happened.

The film proved immensely popular with audiences and critics, being tightly paced, expertly unpacking multiple plot twists through each character’s eyes, and delivering a fantastic ending.

Spoiler Alert

The latter half of the film reveals that Alex’s unwelcome visitor, Aunt Gladys (Amy Madigan), is behind the disappearances, holding a strange power over the children and townsfolk.

While not much is explained about Gladys, the character’s odd mannerisms and appearance proved deeply unsettling—hence, the character is said to be the focus of the upcoming prequel.

What Is The ‘Weapons’ Prequel About?

There is no script yet, just an idea, but there are clues to the kind of story Cregger is aiming to tell. Before he returns to Weapons, Cregger is working on the Resident Evil reboot, adapting Capcom’s iconic video game series into a new story.

When Cregger returns to his own franchise to depict the origin of Aunt Gladys, we might find out how she acquired her powers, or if she was born with them.

We don’t know anything about the world of Weapons, other than malevolent forms of magic exist. We’ll see if Gladys started life as a normal human, and if she made some sort of choice to pursue eternal life, or delay her death from some sort of sickness.

In an interview with Vanity Fair, Cregger revealed that he presented Amy Madigan “with two options of her origin story,” one being a person learning magic to heal herself from a deathly illness, the other being a creature attempting to mimic ordinary human behavior.

“I don’t know the answer, but I love that I don’t know the answer. I don’t need to know the answer. I just need to know that it’s all possible,” explained Cregger. “I don’t know which one she picked.”

Now that a prequel is on the way, Cregger has surely chosen a backstory, possibly leaning toward Gladys having a human background—perhaps the film will even reveal a sympathetic side to the monstrous aunt.

It remains to be seen how deep into his world Cregger is willing to go—it can be a mistake to flesh out too much detail for a mysterious horror villain, as the unknown, implied and imagined is often scarier than anything a film could depict.

Many big screen horror icons develop lengthy, convoluted lore after expanding into a franchise, but hopefully Cregger shows as much restraint as he does in Weapons.