For moviegoers who have been wondering if there will be a sequel for “Split”, you will be pleased to know that director M. Night Shyamalan has been working on the next instalment.
If you’re reading this post, then we assume that you’ve already watched “Split”, cause there are plenty of spoilers ahead. The filmmaker recently made an appearance on Josh Horowitz’s Happy Sad Confused podcast, where he offer up what could potentially be taking place in “Split 2”.
Towards the final moment of “Split”, we saw David Dunn (Bruce Willis reprising his role from “Unbreakable”) eating in a diner where there was a news report on the TV about James McAvoy’s character Kevin Wendell Crumb, who the media has termed “The Horde”.
When the lady beside him says that The Horde reminds her of a former criminal, David Dunn suggests that perhaps she’s referring to Mr. Glass a.k.a. Elijah Price (played by Samuel L. Jackson in “Unbreakable”).
Shyamalan said, “My thought bubble would be—again don’t hold me to this—but Elijah never got out of the institution. He was just a guy who believed this, but David doesn’t quite 100% believe it that way, he just thinks that he is particularly meant to do this and is kind of faded a little bit. Like this idea of comic books that Elijah was saying the comic book world is based on reality, that it’s real—there’s no other evidence for this. It’s this crazy guy who has this bone disorder who’s in an insane asylum. But then this comes up and he’s like, ‘Oh my God, he’s right.’”
The filmmaker also confirmed that he already has plans to have Willis and Jackson join McAvoy in “Split 2”, revealing Jackson’s reaction when he told him about the news. “I said, ‘You know I might be doing this movie and I might combine these two movies, I don’t know if you’re interested in playing Mr. Glass [again],’ he’s like ‘I’m dying to play Mr. Glass! I keep telling you every time I see you!’” shared the director.
Although Shyamalan didn’t go into specifics, he did share that “Split 2” or the 3rd “Unbreakable” movie (since “Split” technically counts as the 2nd) has to stand on its own. “All I can say is this: If ‘Unbreakable’ was about a guy who is the only person who survives a train wreck, everyone dies and he doesn’t have a scratch on him. How is that possible? That’s a high concept, really cool story,” he said.
He continued, “And then this one is 3 girls get abducted by a person that has this disorder that he believes he’s many people, and all of the different personalities are saying there’s another personality coming to get them, it’s called The Beast. That in and of itself is a really cool thing. This third movie needs to have its own idea. The high concept of that final movie can’t be, ‘It’s the final Unbreakable.’ There has to be something about that that makes it its own movie… That’s when I’ll be happiest, is when it’s its own movie. In a way it could be watched by itself.”
Of course, “Split 2” is still in its infancy and Shyamalan’s current ideas could very well change, but for those of y’all who are interested in listening to the full podcast can do so here.
Also, feel free to check out our movie review for “Split” here.
