Each PURGE movie makes more money than the previous, so it's a given that writer/director James DeMonaco's franchise is going to continue in some way. However, after watching THE PURGE: ELECTION YEAR I was convinced that the most satisfying way forward would be to go backward and make a prequel about the early days of The Purge, that
annual 12-hour period in which any and all criminal activity—including murder—is legal. The police can’t be called. Hospitals suspend help. It is one night when the citizenry regulates itself without thought of punishment.
Obviously, DeMonaco is thinking along the same lines. Talking to Cinema Blend, he confirmed that THE PURGE 4 is currently in the early stages of development, and the idea is –
I would actually go back and I would try to talk about how it all started. That seems the natural next chapter in this, is to say, 'Alright, we've done this trilogy. We see how it got to this point of someone trying to end it – this presidential figure. Now let's go back and see how the fuck all this came about.' How did this country get to a place where we were now accepting this kind of atrocity, this terrible thing, each year?
DeMonaco also says that, while he will remain attached to the project as writer and/or producer, he's considering taking a step back and letting someone else direct the next PURGE.
A PURGE project that seems even closer to happening than a cinematic prequel or sequel is a TV series spin-off, possibly a ten hour season that weaves together six or seven storylines. Still talking to Cinema Blend, DeMonaco said this about a potential small screen Purge:
The idea of why I like the idea of a maybe 10 hour TV thing on this, the one thing you really can't do on the films is, just because of mere real estate and time, is you can't get into the nuance and complexity that would drive someone to commit a terrible act on this night. Whether it's revenge or out of passion, but what might be interesting in a TV show is with a flashback narrative, if you start on Purge Night but you go back to show how people have gotten to where they are. Where you see a couple that's gone haywire on this night, but let's show everything that's led up to this moment of a husband trying to kill a wife — the cheating or the accusations of cheating or money problems. It will be interesting to show those arcs, those dramatic and complex arcs that get people to where they pick up a gun or a knife and kill someone else.
I'm really liking where DeMonaco's head is at, and where the franchise seems to be. A prequel and a TV show both seem like the perfect ways to keep this series going, and I would like to see both happen.
THE PURGE: ELECTION YEAR hits DVD and Blu-ray on October 4th. You can pre-order its solo release on Amazon, or get the whole trilogy in a 3-Movie Collection.