Weapons is one of those 2025 movie releases we’ll be talking about well after the year is over, especially due to the terrifying villain it introduced to audiences. I’m talking about Amy Madigan’s Aunt Gladys, who has become so popular in culture that the character was a big Halloween costume this year. The word on the street is that there will be an Aunt Gladys Weapons spinoff, but why haven’t we heard about it since rumors first surfaced months ago?
This week, writer/director Zach Cregger broke his silence on the Aunt Gladys spinoff. Here’s what he told Deadline:
We’re still kind of in the deal-making process, so I don’t think there’s much that I am allowed to say at this point, but… the story is what I am pretty excited about.
There you go. The movie isn’t exactly official yet with New Line due to the project being in the middle of discussions with the studio, but it sounds like Cregger has a concept in his back pocket he’s ready to explore.
To back up a bit, back in August, it was reported by both The Hollywood Reporter and Deadline that there were “early talks” already in place for a prequel that would revolve around Aunt Gladys. In the original iteration of Weapons, Cregger had actually planned to tell the villain’s origin story in one of the chapters, but told CinemaBlend he cut it because he felt it “dulls her” character for the mystery around her to be explained.
Since hearing the rumors, we’ve been a bit nervous about a prequel for that reason. But hey, if the Weapons writer/director is excited about some storytelling opportunities for Aunt Gladys in her own movie, then there must be something worth exploring to look forward to. For example, what’s the mysterious illness she has, and where did she get that bell and evil stick?
Weapons was a big hit commercially, making $268.2 million worldwide against a reported $38 million production budget. So it was not only profitable, but also within the top 20 movies at the worldwide box office. The movie also earned rave reviews among critics (check out our five star Weapons review) and audiences (earning a rare A- Cinemascore for the genre).
Cregger is currently filming his next movie, Resident Evil, over in Prague, which is set to be released on September 18, 2026. The movie stars Weapons’ Austin Abrams alongside Paul Walter Hauser, Severance’s Zach Cherry and True Detective’s Kali Reis. Perhaps once the writer/director is finished with his current project, he’ll focus his attention back on Aunt Gladys and whatever terrifying story of hers he has in store for us after her introduction in Weapons.
