SPOILER WARNING: The following article contains major spoilers for M3GAN. If you have not yet seen the film, proceed at your own risk!
It’s a well-established tradition in horror movies (especially slasher movies) that evil never really totally dies. You may be able to stab it, shoot it, crush it, and obliterate it, but there is always the possibility that it could come back – either to terrorize the same group of characters or a whole new ensemble – and it’s common practice for genre films to end with a hint at that potential. M3GAN is the latest title to be a part of that particular legacy, with an ending that sees the titular doll get destroyed, but teases how she may come back in a sequel.
In the movie, M3GAN heads back to Gemma’s house after wreaking homicidal havoc at Funki headquarters, and she makes her move to kill Gemma (Allison Williams) so that she is no longer an obstacle in her self-development and future with Cady (Violet McGraw). Both the roboticist and her ward survive the encounter – with help from Bruce, a robot Gemma built in college – and it mostly seems like a “happy” ending as Tess (Jen Van Epps) and Cole (Brian Jordan Alvarez) are alive and outside with the police… But then Elise, the Alexa-esque smart home device Gemma owns, turns itself on, leaving audiences with the impression that M3GAN’s programming lives.
After the giddy ride that is the M3GAN cinematic experience, it’s a treat to know that the door is open for a possible sequel – and that was certainly a specific point that the filmmakers wanted to put across in the making of the movie. Director Gerard Johnstone said as much when I interviewed him last month during the film’s Los Angeles press day, as he discussed both why the tease was put in place and an alternate idea that actually made it pretty far in the production pipeline.
Why M3GAN’s Ending Came Together As It Did For The Final Cut Of The Film
By the end of M3GAN, you’re most definitely rooting against the eponymous doll. Sure, she does dispose of some jerks in her slaying, but that has never been viewed as a proper excuse for murder – and let’s not lose sight of the fact that she kills a child and a dog in addition to trying to kill the protagonist and pretty much everyone she knows. At the end of the film, it’s clear that she needs to go.
But Gerard Johnstone, screenwriter Akela Cooper, and producers James Wan and Jason Blum wanted to have their cake and eat it too. While Gemma and Cady would emerge as victors from the final confrontation in the film, the love of M3GAN as a horror villain incentivized them to figure out a proper way for the character to survive. Said Johnstone,
Well, we always wanted to make sure that we keep the possibility for more M3GANs alive. So it was that, really. We always kind of wanted her to live, but there were other iterations of how we did it. But this felt like just the best way... ultimately this just felt like the most elegant way. We just had this big climax, and it just felt like, 'Ok, this is what the movie needs.'
It’s a tradition forged by some of the best scary movies of all time. Jason pops out of the water in Friday The 13th, Freddy attacks Nancy at the end of A Nightmare On Elm Street, and M3GAN’s advanced AI proves strong enough to hijack a smart home system, becoming a purely digital terror. Given Gemma’s affection for and reliance on technology, it’s most definitely a platform from which the Model 3 Generative Android can execute revenge and continue to unleash a whole lot of horror.
Elise eerily turning on by itself is a fun, subtle note that well-follows a third act of violence and robot battles, but it should be noted that Gerard Johnstone’s further comments during the interview suggested to me that a potential M3GAN sequel won’t necessarily keep the eponymous slasher a disembodied killer. I say this because the filmmakers behind the movie played around with the idea of having the programming get into a different toy.
The M3GAN Alternate Ending That Was Both Written And Storyboarded For The Film
When the director mentioned that there were “other iterations” of the idea to let M3GAN survive, I followed up by asking if he could give me an example. After he initially backtracked on the original comment, Johnstone then recalled a different version of the ending that was written and prepped for production with storyboard art. Said the filmmaker,
There were other ways. Yeah. Yeah. There were other ways. Like we were thinking about 'does she get inside another toy?' and things like that. Those scenes were written and storyboarded and maybe I'll share those at some point.
Perhaps a special feature for the home video release?
From a purely logical standpoint, it’s understandable that the alternate toy route wasn’t taken and why taking over Elise was a clever play. As advanced as M3GAN’s artificial intelligence is, she’s not supernatural and wouldn’t just be able to take over a standard doll or toy without advanced components. Meanwhile, Elise is a perfect gateway for her, and gives her the ability to do things that she couldn’t do while stuck in a physical form.
That being said, given the overwhelmingly positive response to M3GAN’s design and presentation, it does seem really hard to believe that a follow-up film would keep her as a wholly digital killer. Perhaps that will be the case through the first two acts of M3GAN 2, but the third will reveal that she has built herself a new doll body that is better in every way than what was originally created for her by Gemma and her team.
As things stand, a M3GAN sequel is only theoretical, so we’ll just have to see what developments come in the future (that being said, the newly forged partnership between James Wan and Jason Blum, certainly makes the future seem bright). While we all wait for news about a M3GAN 2, you can learn about all of the films that are presently set for release in the coming 12 months with our 2023 Movie Release Calendar, and find out how your next craving for big screen scares will be satiated with our Upcoming Horror Movies guide.
