The Strangers: Chapter 1 (2024) Official Trailer

Lionsgate is kicking the door in on a new horror trilogy, as The Strangers: Chapter 2 and The Strangers: Chapter 3 now have new release windows before the upcoming release of The Strangers: Chapter 1 this May. A prequel to the cult-classic 2008 film, The Strangers: Chapter 1 aims to tell the terrifying origin story of the titular home invaders as they torment a couple trying to enjoy their vacation. It’s assured to be a bloody and deadly time, but that hasn’t stopped this new slasher from being the first in a new trilogy, which is set to continue sooner than you may think.

As reported by Variety, it is full-speed ahead for the new trilogy of The Strangers, as The Strangers: Chapter 2 will be hitting screens a mere few months after the release of The Strangers: Chapter 1. It’s also set to release during the spookiest time of year, as Solomon claims the second chapter will release in either September or October. As for The Strangers: Chapter 3, Lionsgate is hoping to release the grand finale some time in early 2025. This might sound like a lot of movies to get done in a rapid amount of time, so it’s a good thing the cast and crew behind the ambitious new films opted to shoot all three chapters simultaneously.

Director Renny Harlin has also confirmed that plans for a four-hour director’s cut that combines all three films into one experience are also in play:

“It’s in our heads. This is definitely what we want to do. We want to cut together the full arc. We know exactly how to do it, then we’ll create a movie and see who are those diehard fans who will come to the movie theater for four and a half hours. I don’t know if we need to have an intermission so people can get some food and go to the bathroom, but I definitely want to have that event and see if people take four and a half hours of dread and fear and terror and despair.”

The Strangers: Chapter 1 takes place some time before the events of the original 2008 film. Here, young couple Maya (Madelaine Petsch) and Ryan (Froy Gutierrez) hope to escape the grind of daily life to spend sometimes in a remote cabin. Little do they know that a trio of masked intruders are not welcoming the two to their humble community, and seek to make the two protagonists pay for their transgressions. We know that the three will kill again, but it remains to be seen if Maya and Ryan will survive the night.