Black Phone 2 revisits familiar territory for long-time horror devotees while broadening the mythology introduced in 2021’s The Black Phone. The sequel reunites the franchise’s central children and their nemesis — a monstrous abductor whose crimes are resisted by uncanny forces — but it also layers in homages and tonal echoes from older genre entries. Some references are obscure (a sly nod to the ice‑skating beats of 1983’s Curtains), while the lineage to Wes Craven’s A Nightmare on Elm Street series — particularly A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors — is more overt.
Image: Universal Pictures
Franchises like Nightmare on Elm Street spawned expansive universes — nine theatrical films plus novels, comics, a videogame and even a TV tie‑in. Could The Black Phone emulate that longevity, evolving into a multi‑entry saga that follows the same protagonists instead of rotating new victims through each installment? Before speculating on a broad franchise arc, the immediate question is simpler: will there be a Black Phone 3?
“I can’t think about filmmaking that way,” director Scott Derrickson told Polygon at Fantastic Fest 2025 after the sequel’s world premiere. “I understand that’s the business of the studios, trying to create film franchises. And I certainly respect film franchises as a horror fan. But as a filmmaker, I have to go one film at a time, and any film that I work on, I have to feel like this might be the last one I get to do. So it had to be complete. We haven’t had one conversation about a Black Phone 3, and I don’t know that we will.”
“Would we love to work with [Black Phone stars Mason Thames, Madeleine McGraw, and Ethan Hawke] again? Absolutely,” said C. Robert Cargill, Derrickson’s co‑writer on both films and on projects like Sinister. “Would we love to get the band back together? Absolutely. Would I love to explore those characters some more? I thought about it. But it all comes down to: Is there a good enough idea to justify us putting a year of our life into making that? When you commit to a movie, that becomes part of your life for at least a year. So it’s really got to be something really great and inspiring for us to want to make a third one.”
Photo: Sabrina Lantos/Universal Pictures
The germ of Black Phone 2 traces back to Joe Hill, author of Locke & Key and NOS4A2, whose short story launched the original film. “Joe Hill called me and said, ‘I have the dumbest idea,’ And I’m like, ‘I love dumb ideas!’” Cargill recalled. The central conceit — a phone that rings with something deeply wrong on the other end — provided fertile ground to extend the franchise’s supernatural rules while leaving room for new twists.
Both Derrickson and Cargill say they’d entertain a third movie if a striking, idea‑driven premise presented itself, but neither wants to manufacture sequels purely for franchise reasons. As Derrickson put it, thoughtful continuation matters: “I don’t think there’s another trilogy that by itself is truly great… I don’t know how I could possibly continue to work on any film franchise unless I was at least trying to do that.”
Black Phone 2 is playing in theaters now.
Source: Polygon
