ENTERTAINMENT / MOVIES

Slasher flick 'Orphan 3' receives official title, drops major production update

Isabelle Fuhrman will reprise her role in the upcoming "inbetweenquel"

'Orphan 3', the third installment of the 'Orphan' slasher-horror franchise has two major updates. The movie will be officially titled 'Orphans', and a latest BTS image shows production went underway on Wednesday, November 5. The developments follow one year after the sequel's announcement.

Earlier this May, 'Orphan: First Kill' star Isabelle Fuhrman was lavish in her praise of the script penned by David Coggeshall. Describing it as an "inbetweenquel", Fuhrman will reprise her role as Esther in the third film. In its latest, DiscussingFilm dropped a behind-the-scenes picture from 'Orphan 3', confirming the filming of the new movie had begun. William Brent Bell returns to direct the film. No other details of the stars or the plot have been released.

In her previous interview with ScreenRant, "It’s early stages, but it’s definitely rumbling,” Fuhrman said. "I just went to my first horror convention… and it was so cool to meet so many fans of Orphan. People dressed up, came from all over to see me… For me, it feels like such a great thing to make another film for the fans, because they seem to really want it. I would love to do it, and the script that I read was fantastic."

Previously, Bell had expressed his excitement about 'Orphan 3'. "We’re developing a third one now," the director told The Hollywood Reporter. "The franchise’s rulebook has been opened up to where anything is possible,” Bell says. “And knowing where we are in the process already, I’m extremely excited about the twists and turns that we have in store."

He also weighed in on the approach of casting 23-year-old Fuhrman to play “nine-year-old” Esther. 'I have a certain blind optimism going into my creative ideas if I’m excited about one," Bell said. "When I first read that script, one of my two things was, 'Is it going to have a great twist? And if it does, how do you recast Isabelle Fuhrman?'"

"And it did have that great twist, so I went and I met with Isabelle immediately. She really wanted to play the part, and it wasn’t me trying to talk her into doing something bizarre. She still looks very much like she did as a child, only bigger, whereas I would’ve looked totally different if you compared me at 12 and 24. So I was like, “Wow, this could really work."

'Orphan: First Kill' opened to solid reviews despite its select theatrical release and Paramount+ in 2022, 13 years after the release of the original. The sequel earned a healthy 69% on Rotten Tomatoes and also raked in $45.6 million at the global box office — reasons enough for a sequel to be greenlit. The latest movie, set between the events of 'Orphan' and 'First Kill' will be expected to lend more depth to the original film.

There's also the possibility that the storyline could explore Esther and her activity in the orphanage, and how it connects to her character after 'Orphan'. While much of this is pure conjecture at this point, teasers by Bell and Fuhrman certainly promise a gripping plot.