WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Halloween Kills, now playing in theaters and available through Peacock.

According to Halloween Kills director David Gordon Green, the film's shocking ending has equally surprising ramifications in the next sequel, Halloween Ends.

The second movie in Green's Halloween trilogy ends with Laurie Strode's daughter, Karen (Judy Greer), leading Michael Myers away from Laurie's granddaughter, Allyson (Andi Matichak), and into a trap, where a mob of Haddonfield citizens attacks The Shape. However, before they can deliver the killing blow, Michael gets up and murders the crowd, one by one. Elsewhere, Karen stares out the window of Judith Myers' bedroom, only for Michael to appear behind her and stab her to death.

"I was writing with Danny McBride and Scott Teems, and as we were writing it, that just happened," Green told GamesRadar+. "And then we stopped writing."

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Green went on to tease how Karen's death affects Laurie in Halloween Ends. "Well, if you look at where Laurie Strode went from 1978 over the next 40 years, we found the person in a very different state than we'd left her," noted Green. "And the most enjoyable characters to write and watch are the ones that evolve and go through change. There'll be a lot of unexpected character evolution in the next one, and that's because processing grief and tragedy and a massacre like this can only go in any number of infinite directions. And so we just get to pick one and take that journey with her."

“Well, I was bummed to see the ending. I thought it was a good idea, though,” said Greer in a separate interview. "I thought it was really beautifully written, and it felt like a dance, like an opera, kind of. But it was also a little bit of a bummer, mostly because I like to play with my friends.”

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Audiences won't have to wait long to see what happens in Halloween Ends, which opens in theaters next year. "It’s very different in tone from Halloween (2018) and Halloween Kills, and I think that’s part of my self-indulgence," said Green recently. He also revealed he only just came up with "a new twist ending" and expects the sequel's story to continue evolving between now and the start of production in January.

Halloween Kills is now playing in theaters and streaming on Peacock. Halloween Ends arrives Oct. 14, 2022.

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Source: GamesRadar+