The truth about Black Phone 3, straight from one of the franchise’s writers [Exclusive]

In horror, no franchise has ever truly died. Either you have something like “Child’s Play” that somehow goes on without ever having its continuity reset for over 30 years, or you have something like “Halloween” that has so many branching timelines and reboots that it’s dizzying at times. Regardless, once something succeeds, it endures. As such, it’s reasonable to wonder, in light of the success “Black Phone 2” has had, whether “Black Phone 3” is in the cards.

/Film’s Jacob Hall recently spoke with screenwriter C. Robert Cargill in honor of the release of “Black Phone 2” in theaters and its box office success, and asked about the possibility of a third series of spooky shenanigans with Ethan Hawke’s The Grabber. While Cargill didn’t rule it out entirely, he also made it clear that nothing was set in stone, emphasizing that he and director Scott Derrickson were in no rush:

“Can I imagine this happening? Yes. I couldn’t imagine this happening at first. I didn’t want to do ‘Taken 2’ and ‘3’. ‘How does the same kid end up in different basements?’ We left everything on the table for this one. We got it out, it’s been out for six days now, and we’re going to enjoy it.

Since a chance meeting in Las Vegas led to the 2012 hit “Sinister,” Derrickson and Cargill have been inseparable creative partners. As Cargill says, they revealed everything in the second film and a third installment is not as inevitable as some might believe.

“Black Phone 2” doesn’t end on a big cliffhanger; his story seems complete. Still, it’s easy to see how there could be more stories to tell in this universe centered around The Grabber, who became a dream killer like Freddy Krueger. On that front, Cargill has provided the barest hint as to where things would go if a third movie happens:

“Once this all calms down, if someone says, ‘Oh, you know what would be cool?’, if the rest of us think it’s cool, then we’ll start exploring it. But right now, we have a few other projects that we’re really excited to get into. And Scott said, we waited a few years for this one and we wanted to make it a high school movie. If we do another one, it’ll probably be a movie college, where one or both are college age, so it’s going to be a few years away.”

“These are the closest things to what this movie would be. We’re in no rush to make a third movie. We’re just very happy to have made a good second one,” Cargill concluded.

Even if Blumhouse desperately wants “Black Phone 3,” unless it’s something that feels creatively rewarding, it’s highly unlikely that Derrickson and/or Cargill will do it. For what it’s worth, Blumhouse has had a rough streak at the box office with surefire hits harder to come by. So if this movie continues to do well, studio head Jason Blum might just get desperate. In this case, all he can do is hope that Derrickson and Cargill will have an idea that will spark them.

“Black Phone 2” is currently in theaters.