A Prequel to 2025’s Most Popular Horror Movie Is in the Works, and It Will Focus on This Character

The horror hit Weapons is getting a prequel, and this time the creepy Aunt Gladys is taking center stage. Sources told The Hollywood Reporter that Warner Bros. and New Line are already in talks with director Zach Cregger about telling her origin story.

In Weapons, Amy Madigan plays Gladys, who pretends to be the aunt of a young boy named Alex. But in reality, she’s a witch who feeds off the energy of children to keep herself young. She appears in the main movie without much explanation, but now it looks like fans might finally learn where she came from and how she became so dangerous.

The movie itself has been a big success. Released on August 8, 2025, by Warner Bros. Pictures, Weapons has made $81.3 million worldwide so far, with $48.8 million from the US and Canada and $32.5 million from other countries. Critics loved it, too.

Rotten Tomatoes gave it a 94% score from 284 reviews, with the site’s summary saying, “Zach Cregger spins an expertly crafted yarn of terrifying mystery and thrilling intrigue in Weapons, a sophomore triumph that solidifies his status as a master of horror.” Metacritic gave it an 81 out of 100, calling the response “universal acclaim.” CinemaScore audiences gave it an A−, and PostTrak viewers rated it four out of five stars, with 65% saying they’d definitely recommend it.

Are you watching?#WeaponsMovie – only in theaters August 8. pic.twitter.com/N5rBjpS4JE

— New Line Cinema (@newlinecinema) June 23, 2025

The movie’s story follows the strange disappearance of seventeen children from the same class, all vanishing on the same night. It stars Josh Brolin, Julia Garner, Alden Ehrenreich, Austin Abrams, Benedict Wong, and Amy Madigan.

One of the unique things about the movie is that it’s told in chapters, each one focusing on a different character. According to The Hollywood Reporter’s sources, Cregger originally had a chapter in the script that told more of Gladys’s backstory, but it was cut to keep the film from running too long.

Now, with the film’s huge success, that missing chapter might become a whole movie. There’s no deal yet and no release date, but the idea is already being discussed.

Cregger is busy at the moment with another project, he’s in Prague working on a Resident Evil reboot for Columbia Pictures, which comes out on September 18, 2026. The Hollywood Reporter says he’s being paid $20 million for that job, which is huge for a director making only his third movie.

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