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M. Night Shyamalan announces joint sequel for ‘Unbreakable’ and ‘Split’

Anyone who hasn’t seen M. Night Shyamalan’s recent thriller Split might want to avoid the movie news cycle, because the filmmaker has announced a new project that — by the very nature of its existence — reveals a major revelation from the film’s finale.

With that in mind, readers should consider this a spoiler warning before forging ahead with the rest of this article.

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Fans of Shyamalan’s dark superhero origin film Unbreakable have been clamoring for a sequel since the movie was released back in 2000, and the filmmaker finally gave them some hope with a surprising final scene in Split that connected the universes of the two movies. Shyamalan isn’t stopping there, though, and has now announced plans for a sequel to both Unbreakable and Split that brings the cast of characters from both movies together for a crossover film titled Glass.

The announcement was made in a series of updates on Twitter, with Shyamalan confirming that in the upcoming film, Bruce Willis will reprise his role as the invulnerable David Dunn from Unbreakable (after making a brief cameo in Split), along with Split actor James McAvoy as multiple-personality antagonist Kevin Wendell Crumb, Split protagonist Anya Taylor-Joy as Casey Cooke, and Unbreakable actor Samuel L. Jackson returning as the diabolically brilliant — but physically fragile — Elijah Price (also known as Mr. Glass).

It’s taken 17 years but I can finally answer the #1 question I get, “Are you making a f#&@ing sequel to Unbreakable or what?”

— M. Night Shyamalan (@MNightShyamalan) April 26, 2017

My new film is the sequel to #Unbreakable AND #Split. It was always my dream to have both films collide in this third film.

— M. Night Shyamalan (@MNightShyamalan) April 26, 2017

And the film is called GLASS…

— M. Night Shyamalan (@MNightShyamalan) April 26, 2017

“It’s taken 17 years but I can finally answer the #1 question I get, ‘Are you making a f#&@ing sequel to Unbreakable or what?'” wrote Shyamalan in the update that kicked off his announcement regarding Glass.

The film, which can now be considered the third installment of a franchise that began with Unbreakable, is expected to feature Willis’ character pursuing McAvoy’s split-personality killer The Beast while Jackson’s Glass plays some sort of role in orchestrating the two characters’ inevitable collision. Shyamalan will reunite with his producing partner Jason Blum for the film, which will be distributed by Universal Pictures.

Shyamalan also announced the official release date for Glass, which currently has the film hitting theaters January 18, 2019.

Rick Marshall
A veteran journalist with more than two decades of experience covering local and national news, arts and entertainment, and…
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