Blumhouse horror franchises (mostly) seem to be keen on mixing things up with subsequent films, often changing casts, settings, and stories. This is probably best seen in “The Purge” franchise, which has morphed from a home invasion thriller in the original to a large-scale action film series with serious messages about politics and society as a whole. And before the release of “The Forever Purge,” last week, it seemed as if filmmaker James DeMonaco was done with ‘Purge’ films, having put an ending on the franchise. Well, maybe that’s not the case, after all.
Speaking to /Film, DeMonaco was asked about the potential future of the ‘Purge’ franchise, perhaps including a sixth film, and how Jason Blum, the founder of Blumhouse, might have spawned an idea in the head of the writer about how it could continue. And best of all, for fans of the ‘Purge’ films, it appears that Frank Grillo could be returning to the franchise. Maybe.
“As for Jason [Blum], Jason probably did get into my head, because about three months ago, I did come up with what I think could be part six. We will see. We’ll see,” teased DeMonaco.
He added, “Dude, my ‘Purge 6’ idea is all about Frank [Grillo]. It’s all about the Leo character. Without giving anything away, I think he’s off on his own, but he’s going to be called back into action, hopefully on ‘Purge 6,’ if we’re lucky enough to do it. I hope that Leo comes back. That’s the goal. When I came up with ‘Purge 6,’ he was the center of the idea. I’m hoping that we get to do that with him.”
As a quick overview, “The Purge” franchise started with the idea of one night where murder and all other crimes are legal and a family has to protect themselves from Purgers trying to break in. From there, the film series included Grillo’s character, who initially used the Purge night to stalk a murderer. Eventually, the worldbuilding really began with discussions of politics, racism, classism, and how our current real-world situation could potentially lead to something far darker and far deadlier.
And according to DeMonaco, when he wrote the first ‘Purge’ film, he didn’t even think there was going to be this huge franchise that would spawn from it.
“We never saw the potential for anything larger than a cult thriller or something like that,” he explained. “Jason’s the one who saw the conceit, and Universal saw that the conceit can be somewhat, well, it could be universal, could be commercial. We just saw it so dark and so dystopian and nihilistic that we didn’t see the potential.”
While there’s no confirmation about “Purge 6” actually happening, it appears the wheels are in motion and perhaps “The Forever Purge” won’t be the end. You can see “The Forever Purge” in theaters now.