‘Weapons’ Director Says Prequel Starring Amy Madigan’s Aunt Gladys ‘Is Real’

Amy Madigan may have another chance to portray her now-iconic Weapons character Aunt Gladys once more.

In a recent interview with Fangoria published Sunday, Sept. 21, Weapons writer-director Zach Cregger confirmed that he is in discussions to make a rumored prequel focused around Madigan’s terrifying, witchy villain from his August horror hit.

“It is real and I’ve been talking to Warner Bros. about it,” Cregger, 44, told the outlet, while discussing Weapons’ home release. “There’s a story and I’m pretty excited about it. It’s not bulls—.”

Cregger first told Variety in an interview published Aug. 8 that he had “another idea for something in this world that I’m kind of excited about,” the same week Weapons hit theaters. As the movie evolved into one of this year’s biggest hits at the box office, The Hollywood Reporter reported on Aug. 12 that multiple sources said Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema were discussing making a prequel exploring Aunt Gladys’ origin story. At the time, THR reported that Weapons originally featured some of Gladys’ backstory in an early version of the script that was cut to keep the movie’s runtime down. 

“I was ready,” Cregger told Fangoria, while speaking to his idea for the prequel. “I had it kind of in my pocket before the movie came out.”

Weapons follows various residents of a small town in the weeks after 17 kids from the same elementary school class run out of their homes late one night and disappear. Madigan’s Aunt Gladys emerges as the movie’s primary villain as she encounters character portrayed by Josh Brolin, Julia Garner, Alden Ehrenreich, Austin Abrams, Benedict Wong and child star Cary Christopher as the mystery plays out.

When Madigan, 75, spoke about the movie for the first time with Entertainment Weekly in an August interview, the actress admitted that she did not fully understand her character’s backstory herself.

“People ask that question, ‘Is she real or is it this or that?’ I said, ‘Good, you guys figure it out ’cause I can’t answer that,’ ” Madigan said.

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When asked if she would be interested in revisiting the role, Madigan said, “It’s not that I discount it, but in this business, nothing’s real till it’s real. I just had such a great time working with Zach and being inside that brain of his. That’s really the gift of how the movie came out.”

“The other stuff has to do with all sorts of conversations that I would never be privy in and business things like that,” she added. “But, you know, I love Gladys, so I’ll leave it at that.”

Weapons is in theaters and available to purchase digitally now.