Daniel Baldwin Joins the Spinach-Fueled Carnage as ‘Popeye the Slayer Man 2’ Sets Sail

When Popeye the Sailor Man entered the public domain at the start of last year, horror filmmakers wasted no time turning the beloved cartoon icon into something far more sinister. The character’s newfound freedom from copyright triggered a wave of low-budget terror, and among the projects that emerged from that wave, one quickly stood apart for its sheer commitment to the bit.

‘Popeye the Slayer Man’, written by John Doolan and directed by Robert Michael Ryan, hit theaters and VOD in March of last year as one of three live-action Popeye horror films to take advantage of the character entering the public domain. The other two were ‘Shiver Me Timbers’ and ‘Popeye’s Revenge’, making it a genuinely strange moment in genre cinema history. The original film divided audiences between those charmed by its B-movie energy and those left cold by its rough edges, but it clearly found enough of a following to earn the ultimate horror franchise stamp of approval.

Production has now begun on ‘Popeye the Slayer Man 2’, the sequel to the public domain slasher, with filming already underway in upstate New York. The film comes stacked with new faces, and the biggest addition to the roster is hard to miss. Daniel Baldwin, best known for his work on ‘Homicide: Life on the Street’, is joining the cast to play the mayor of the town, while Avaryana Rose steps in as his daughter. Baldwin has a long history with the horror genre, having starred in John Carpenter’s ‘Vampires’ back in 1998.

As for what fans can expect from the story, the sequel raises the stakes considerably. In this installment, Popeye, the legendary sailor man whose consumption of contaminated spinach in the first film made him a madman killer, goes on a rampage to get revenge after his home is destroyed, while police close in and his estranged family tries to reach what remains of him. It is a premise that leans harder into mythology, and that appears to be very much by design. Producer Jeff Miller made the ambitions of the sequel crystal clear when speaking to Deadline, saying the film is “bigger and bloodier than the first,” promising more kills, more gore, and deeper Popeye backstory for fans of the original.

Jason Robert Stephens returns to reprise the title role, joined by returning cast members Sean Michael Conway, Elena Juliano, Sarah Nicklin, and Nathan Todaro, alongside the new additions of Chelsea Gilson, Mia Rose, Derek Poole, and Jesse Wakeman. Director Robert Michael Ryan and writer John Doolan are both back at the helm for the sequel. It is a notably stable creative team for a project in this corner of the genre, suggesting the people behind it genuinely care about where this franchise is headed.

Whether ‘Popeye the Slayer Man 2’ can convert the skeptics who dismissed the original while keeping the devoted B-movie faithful on board is the real question, and it would be fascinating to hear whether you think a bigger, bloodier Popeye is exactly what the horror genre needs right now.