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Next summer — June 27, 2025 to be exact — Universal Pictures and Blumhouse will return audiences to the technological nightmare that is the M3GAN mythos in a sequel aptly-titled M3GAN 2.0. A follow-up to the Chucky meets Terminator horror flick was a no-brainer once the original racked up plenty of critical acclaim and $180 million at the worldwide box office against a modest budget of $12 million.
Deftly balancing genuine scares with a twisted sense of humor, M3GAN cemented its status not only as one of the best theatrical releases of 2022, but also as a modern genre classic and blossoming studio franchise. Before it even started filming, producer James Wan already “had about seven different ideas of what the sequel could be,” fellow producer Jason Blum revealed, later adding: “When you’re dealing with a character like M3GAN, we’re not just talking about making a sequel — it has to be an upgrade.”
“It’s early yet, but M3GAN is coming back in a big way,” Wan teased in late 2023. “The first film came just at the right time [when concerns about AI were mounting], and we’re definitely leaning into that on the next one. We’re exploring the AI universe even further.”
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Everything We Know (So Far) About M3GAN 2.0
News of a M3GAN sequel first broke in early 2023, with confirmation that both Allison Williams and Violet McGraw were on board to reprise toy company roboticist Gemma (M3GAN’s Frankensteinian creator) and her orphaned niece, Cady, respectively. The same goes for everyone behind-the-scenes, including screenwriter Akela Cooper and director Gerard Johnstone.
“The thing is with the sequels, they have to have a reason to exist. This film was so challenging to make. And coming back to it — once my heartbeat died down — I realized there’s so much more we wanted to say and so much more that we wanted to do,” Johnstone said last year while in Los Angeles to discuss the “business-y stuff” side of project. “The hope is that we can just follow that direction and make sure that the second film feels as relevant as the first film does. And that’s both exciting and daunting at the same time, given how technology keeps changing. Who knows where we will be when that film comes out?”
He continued: “I don’t know if there was ever a scene but there wasn’t really much time to really delve into her thought process and her complexities. I know that sounds really cerebral and not fun. But just to build on that I think it would be really fun. To just build out her character and add more dimensions to her.”
In early May, Ahsoka star Ivanna Sakhno landed “a major part” in the sequel, according to Deadline. Timm Sharp (Percy Jackson and the Olympians), Aristotle Athari (Saturday Night Live), and Jemaine Clement (What We Do in the Shadows) boarded the film last month as it officially entered production. Brian Jordan Alvarez and Jen Van Epps will return as Gemma’s co-workers, Cole and Tess.
What Will M3GAN 2.0 Be About?
While we don’t have any firm story details just yet — here are our best guesses at the moment — the ending of M3GAN did leave us with the knowledge that the titular doll with a superiority complex had successfully uploaded her digital consciousness into Gemma’s Siri-like home assistant named “Elsie.” With the rise of artificial intelligence leading to important discussions in all industries (not least of all Hollywood), the burgeoning series feels more relevant than ever before.
“We shot this film three years ago and already technology has evolved so much. Now we have these ChatGPT3 where you can have these very involved conversations with a computer,” Johnstone explained during an interview with New Zealand outlet 1News. “Me and my kid were getting it to help us make a story about a frog samurai and it would do it and we’d say, ‘Now make it funny,’ and it would do it. Then we’d say, ‘Now make it rhyme,’ and it would do it again. It’s just phenomenal. The best thing about the movie is that it’s part of the conversation about what’s happening now and the more that happens the more there is to talk about. That’s what’s most exciting about getting to do one of these movies again.”
When Will M3GAN 2.0 Open in Theaters?
Originally slated for a wide debut on January 17, 2025, the sophomore installment was eventually pushed back to May 16, 2025 and then again to June 27, 2025. Atomic Monster’s James Wan and Blumhouse’s Jason Blum will produce the feature under their now-singular production banner.
A spinoff project entitled SOULM8TE, is currently headed for theaters on January 2, 2026. Described as an “erotic thriller” about a man who acquires an artificially intelligent android to cope with the recent death of his wife, the film hails from writer-director Kate Dolan (You Are Not My Mother).
M3GAN (both the theatrical and unrated cuts) are now streaming on Peacock!
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