In 2000, M. Night Shyamalan released the incredible thriller Unbreakable. 16 years later, Shyamalan released another thriller entitled Split. Both movies had incredible casts, but the final installment in what has turned out to be a “trilogy” may have the best cast of all.
Split is technically a sequel of sorts to Unbreakable. This seemingly doesn’t make sense at first because both the storylines and casts are different. Unbreakable stars Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson, while Split stars James McAvoy, Anya Taylor-Joy, and Betty Buckley.
But if you stayed through the credits of Split, Shyamalan connects the two movies.
https://youtu.be/T4drX5Xzo5o
While the 2016 film isn’t technically a sequel to the 2000 movie in a traditional sense, the two are joining together to create a dual sequel in the form of a movie named Glass to be released on January 18th, 2019.
On Tuesday, Shyamalan teased an announcement would come the following day, though he didn’t clarify it would be about Glass.
Check out my Twitter tomorrow at 12EST/9PST! I have some unbelievable news! Can't wait to tell you…
— M. Night Shyamalan (@MNightShyamalan) April 25, 2017
Then Wednesday morning, the director started to tease what was coming.
Okay. Here we go. Finished the new script.
— M. Night Shyamalan (@MNightShyamalan) April 26, 2017
And then… boom.
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
If M. Night Shyamalan calls Glass a sequel of the two, we kind of have to trust him.
Later on, in what became a very descriptive Twitter thread, Shyamalan began to unveil how the two movies would collide in Glass and who would be included in the stellar cast.
The iconic Bruce Willis returns as David Dunn
— M. Night Shyamalan (@MNightShyamalan) April 26, 2017
The incomparable @SamuelLJackson will return as Elijah Price/Mr. Glass
— M. Night Shyamalan (@MNightShyamalan) April 26, 2017
That’s off to a great start with the return of the stars of Unbreakable.
The virtuoso #JamesMcAvoy returns as Kevin Wendell Crumb, Patricia, Dennis, Hedwig, Barry, Jade, Orwell, The Beast, Heinrich, Norma, Pol-
— M. Night Shyamalan (@MNightShyamalan) April 26, 2017
McAvoy received a ton of praise for his work in Split, so it’s no surprise to see him return as all of those characters in 2019.
And the prodigy, @AnyaTaylorJoy will return as Casey Cooke
— M. Night Shyamalan (@MNightShyamalan) April 26, 2017
Nice to see McAvoy is joined by his fellow co-star from Split as well.
Thsoe are all the names Shyamalan released for Glass, and while none of them are new, together they make one heck of a cast.
Here’s some more info the director released on his Twitter:
I’m reteaming with my partners @jason_blum and @Universalpics for this crazy comic book thriller.
— M. Night Shyamalan (@MNightShyamalan) April 26, 2017
And the film is called GLASS…
— M. Night Shyamalan (@MNightShyamalan) April 26, 2017
Universal Pictures will release #Glass on January 18, 2019 all over the world. How’s that for not keeping a secret!
— M. Night Shyamalan (@MNightShyamalan) April 26, 2017
It’s both surprising and not to see Shyamalan release all of this information on his own. The director did extremely well with his first two films in the “trilogy” earning over half a billion between the two. Unbreakable raked in $250 million, while Split beat it at the box office with a whopping $275 million.
As for the plot itself and how they’ll converge, here’s everything we know so far. Before reading on, if you don’t want to know anything about Glass‘ plot line, stop reading now.
According to Variety, this is how the two will converge:
The story of “Glass” will follow the conclusion of “Split” with Dunn pursuing McAvoy’s The Beast in “a series of escalating encounters, while the shadowy presence of Price emerges as an orchestrator who holds secrets critical to both men.”
Well then, that should be interesting and quite thrilling. Glass arrives in theaters on January 18th, 2019.
[Variety]