The Strangers trilogy: Renny Harlin reveals some details about the films + NYCC Panel wrap-up

Director Renny Harlin (A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master) and producer Courtney Solomon are at New York Comic Con this week for a panel where they’ll be discussing their upcoming The Strangers trilogy – in fact, that panel is scheduled to start just minutes from when I’m writing this article. We’ll have the panel and an interview with Harlin and Solomon tomorrow, but in advance of the panel JoBlo’s own Tyler Nichols was able to talk to the director and producer and learned some fresh details about the three new films! Keep scrolling to find out what they were…

The cast of these films includes Madelaine Petsch (Riverdale), Froy Gutierrez (Cruel Summer), Rachel Shenton (All Creatures Great and Small), Gabriel Basso (Hillbilly Elegy), and Ema Horvath (The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power). We’ve previously heard that they’ll be called The Strangers: Chapter 1, The Strangers: Chapter 2, and The Strangers: Chapter 3, and that The Strangers: Chapter 1 centers on Petsch’s character as she drives cross-country with her longtime boyfriend (Gutierrez) to begin a new life in the Pacific Northwest. When their car breaks down in Venus, Oregon, they’re forced to spend the night in a secluded Airbnb, where they are terrorized from dusk till dawn by three masked strangers. Lionsgate plans from there to expanding the story in new and unexpected ways with its sequels.

Here’s what Tyler was able to glean from his conversation with Harlin and Solomon:

The script (by Alan R. Cohen and Alan Freedland) came in at a whopping 240 pages and took about 9 months to write.

All three chapters are told from the perspective of Madelaine Petch’s character.

Sometimes there would be rewrites on the day of filming, but it all seems positive and benefiting the story.

Producer Courtney Solomon isn’t a fan of The Strangers: Prey At Night, so these new films are more akin to the original.

Star Madelaine Petsch was considered their third creative partner, helping with rewrites for her character.

All three movies were filmed at the same time. The morning would sometimes be a scene from chapter one and the night would be a scene from chapter three.

Solomon produced this The Strangers trilogy with Mark Canton, Christopher Milburn, Gary Raskin, Charlie Dombeck, and Alastair Birlingham. Andrei Boncea, Dorothy Canton, and Roy Lee serve as executive producers. Rafaella Biscayn, Frame Film SK, Johanna Harlin, Juan Garcia Peredo, and Alberto Burgueno are co-producing. 

According to information revealed at the NYCC panel (attended by our man David Arroyo), all three movies are due in 2024, with them aiming to release them every four months or so. All four movies take place in the span of four days. The first scene of the second movie takes place immediately after the last scene of the first film and same with third first scene is right after last scene. Notably, the titular strangers are played by actors, not stunt-people, and the masks took months and were made from scratch. They finally got them the first day of shooting and only had one of each so if one broke they would be screwed.

Are you looking forward to Renny Harlin and Courtney Solomon’s The Strangers trilogy? Let us know by leaving a comment below.