Fede Alvarez’s Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a sequel about Old Man Leatherface

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

It has been said since the beginning that the new Texas Chainsaw Massacre movie that's coming our way from director David Blue Garcia, producer Fede Alvarez, and the folks at Legendary Entertainment would be "picking up where the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre (watch it HERE) left off", and now Alvarez has confirmed that the new film is considered to be a sequel to the original Chainsaw.

Speaking with Bloody Disgusting's The Boo Crew Podcast, Alvarez said, 

It is a direct sequel, and (Leatherface) is the same character. It is old man Leatherface."

This lends credence to a report posted on the Illuminerdi website last year, where they said they got their hands on a casting call that listed the character as 

Leatherface aka Kenny. … In this telling, he is 60 years old and characterized as having a big build. He is not a bodybuilder, and may even be slightly obese. He also wears church clothes that are too tightly fitted. Leatherface is additionally described as complex, though he is also listed as a non-speaking role. He primarily expresses himself with guttural noises that range from a howling belly laugh to a pig-like squeal. His time is spent inside watching TV, which is something that triggers his laughter. It’s also revealed that he shields his face in an effort avoid his picture being taken.

The one person who can calm Kenny’s tantrums is Mrs. Mc. She is 70-80 years old and seems to actually be a warm, honest lady who has fostered abandoned children for decades. They are casting all ethnicities for Mrs. Mc, who despite having a positive outlook, is on the verge of being evicted from her rural Texas home.

So if that's true, Leatherface is named Kenny now. He has been given several different names over the course of the franchise. Through sequels, reboots, and remakes, he has been referred to as Bubba, Junior, Thomas Brown Hewitt, Jackson, and Jedidiah "Jed" Sawyer. Why filmmakers insist on giving him a different name all the time is beyond me.

Illuminerdi also heard that the lead characters are sisters Melody and Dreama.

The older sister, Melody, is a 25-year old San Francisco moneymaker who drags her younger teenage sister with her to Texas on a business trip, out of fear of leaving her alone in the city. On the other hand, Dreama is an amateur photographer and it should be noted is wheelchair bound and presumably disabled. 

Alvarez also told The Boo Crew that

everything is classic, old school gags. A lot of the approach that we had with Evil Dead – never VFX, to do everything on camera. It’s a very old school approach to filmmaking. Vintage lenses… it’s very similar to the original film."

Which sounds promising, even if I have doubts about some of the details provided by The Illuminerdi.

Scripted by Chris Thomas Devlin, the film stars Elsie Fisher, Sarah Yarkin, Jacob Latimore, and Moe Dunford. It hasn't been revealed who's playing Leatherface. Or Mrs. Mc, if she's in the movie.

Alvarez produced this Texas Chainsaw Massacre with Pat Cassidy, Rodo Sayagues, Ian Henkel, and Kim Henkel.