Wait, Did Halloween Kills Almost Include Paul Rudd?

Halloween Kills and Paul Rudd in Ant-Man
(Image credit: (Universal/Disney))

Is it Halloween yet? Even with an onslaught of horror films entering our eyeballs as of late like the Fear Street trilogy, Old and Candyman, sadly no. We do have just three months until we hang our jack o’ lanterns, and with that, Michael Myers is once again creeping in the shadows for Halloween Kills. The sequel to the 2018 return of Jamie Lee Curtis’ Laurie Strode and the famed franchise has been on our list for a while, but did you know it could have been on Paul Rudd’s?

The Ant-Man actor once was part of the Halloween franchise in 1995, when he portrayed an adult Tommy Doyle in Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers. If you remember, Tommy is the kid who Laurie Strode was babysitting the night of Michael’s first rampage. In Halloween Kills, the character will be played by Anthony Michael Hall, who has revealed that Paul Rudd was once up to reprise the role. In his words:

A couple of weeks into production David called me and said he had just spoken to Paul Rudd. I admire Paul's work a lot, so he gave me his blessing on the film, which was nice of him to do. But my take [on the character] is quite separate.

It’s nice to hear that Paul Rudd gave The Breakfast Club actor his blessing as the actor heads into the horror franchise for the trilogy’s second act. Though it would have been a bit comforting to see the Ant-Man actor back in the role. Rudd likely made the right decision considering his role in Ghostbusters: Afterlife seems a lot bigger, and there’s less of a possibility of him getting stabbed by a masked murderer too.

Halloween Kills director David Gordon Green has actually worked with Paul Rudd before – back in 2013 for his film Prince Avalanche. But according to Total Film Magazine, Rudd had to pass due to scheduling conflicts. The actor went on to film Ghostbusters: Afterlife in summer 2019 at the same time as Halloween Kills began production. And now the movie will open about a month apart later this year. Check out the Halloween Kills trailer:

Halloween Kills will reportedly pick up right after 2018’s Halloween, on the same night that Laurie, her daughter Karen (Judy Greer) and her granddaughter Allyson (Andi Matichak) left Michael Myers up in flames in Laurie’s basement. We know that the killer will survive her trap and continue his rampage. This time they will be joined by other survivors, as they join a “vigilante mob” to take him down once and for all.

Halloween Kills comes to theaters on October 15, and Halloween Ends is expected for October 14, 2022.

Sarah El-Mahmoud
Staff Writer

Sarah El-Mahmoud has been with CinemaBlend since 2018 after graduating from Cal State Fullerton with a degree in Journalism. In college, she was the Managing Editor of the award-winning college paper, The Daily Titan, where she specialized in writing/editing long-form features, profiles and arts & entertainment coverage, including her first run-in with movie reporting, with a phone interview with Guillermo del Toro for Best Picture winner, The Shape of Water. Now she's into covering YA television and movies, and plenty of horror. Word webslinger. All her writing should be read in Sarah Connor’s Terminator 2 voice over.