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Sign in to your Collider account Summary Generate a summary of this story follow Follow followed Followed Like Like Thread Log in Here is a fact-based summary of the story contents: Try something different: Show me the facts Explain it like I’m 5 Give me a lighthearted recapIt looks like sweet little Esther's (Isabelle Fuhrman) story isn't done yet, and she’ll finally be returning to theaters with an all-new Orphan sequel. A third film was officially announced on November 4, 2024, and it has finally started filming in Budapest, Hungary. The confirmation comes as the production team posted a photo of the movie’s clapperboard on Instagram. The picture also revealed that the upcoming film will be titled Orphans, which seems to hint that Esther may not be the only one of her kind this time.
The original film came out in 2009 and opened to mixed reviews, but over time, it managed to gain a massive cult following in the horror community and became one of the most talked-about horror thrillers of the 2000s. Its ending still gets mentioned in lists of the best movie twists ever. This eventually led to a prequel in 2022 called Orphan: First Kill, which showed how her first adoptive family met their demise. Despite being released in select theaters and streaming on Paramount+ at the same time, First Kill still managed to make an impressive $45 million worldwide.
The clapperboard also confirmed that William Brent Bell, who directed First Kill, is back in the director’s chair. Maxime Alexandre will serve as the director of photography, and the screenplay is once again written by David Coggeshall, who also penned the prequel. The plot synopsis for Orphans reads: “A ruthless con artist targets a wealthy European household, but her carefully planned scheme takes an unexpected turn when someone uncovers her dark past and vows to expose her true identity.”
How Will ‘Orphans’ Bring Esther Back After the First Movie’s Ending?
For anyone who’s seen the first film, it’s clear that Esther meets her end when she’s kicked into a frozen pond and dies of a broken neck. So naturally, the big question is how she’ll be back for the third film. Many thought Orphans would just be another prequel like First Kill, but Fuhrman has confirmed that it won’t be that straightforward. She described the film as an “inbetweenquel,” and said that it will have elements of both a prequel and a sequel. This could simply mean that the film takes place between Orphan and First Kill. It could fill in the missing time between the two movies and show what Esther did during that two-year gap.
But there are also plenty of ways the filmmakers could actually bring Esther back for real. The original Orphan had an alternate ending that skipped the frozen lake scene and instead showed Esther going back to her room, pretending to be a little girl again, just as the police arrived. The new movie could easily pick up from that version, or it could just retcon the ending and reveal she actually survived. Hollywood has brought back characters from far worse fates before. If Palpatine can somehow return, then Esther definitely can too. She’s become too iconic to stay gone for good.
Orphans could even go the supernatural route, like Black Phone 2, and bring her back as a vengeful supernatural entity haunting her older family or new victims. Fuhrman has teased that the twists in Orphans are “wilder and crazier” than before, which is saying a lot considering how shocking the first two films were. Whether Esther turns out to be alive, reborn, or joined by others like her, this next installment sounds like it’s going to take the franchise into darker and more twisted territory than ever before.
Orphan is available to stream on The Roku Channel, and Orphan: First Kill can be streamed on Paramount+. There’s still no official release date or additional cast announced for Orphans yet, so fans will have to wait a bit longer for more concrete details. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.
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Orphan
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Horror
Thriller
Release Date
July 24, 2009
Runtime
123 minutes
Director
Jaume Collet-Serra
Writers
Jaume Collet-Serra
Cast
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Isabelle Fuhrman
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Vera Farmiga
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Orphan
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Orphan: First Kill
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