Director Zach Cregger reveals his idea for a possible prequel movie to Cregger was conceptualizing Barbarian, he was inspired by a non-fiction self-help book, The Gift of Fear, which encourages readers to listen to their gut instincts and notice the early warning signs of violence. Cregger was particularly inspired by a section of the book that examines the red flags woman should be aware of in their interactions with men. The director developed a 30 page scene containing as many of these red flags as possible, which would later become the script for Barbarian.
Barbarian follows Tess Marshall (Georgina Campbell), a woman who rents a place to stay but soon realizes the property is already occupied with another guest, Keith (Bill Skarsgard). The two eventually discover a terrible secret in the basement: a horribly deformed woman known as The Mother, a product of decades of incest and torture, has been living in the tunnels underneath the home, abducting individuals to raise as her own. Tess and the other occupants of the home must escape The Mother's rampage and put an end to decades of suffering.
In an interview with ComicBook, Cregger opens up about the possibility for a follow-up to Barbarian. Initially answering with a firm "No", the director explains that he would only be interested in revisiting the movie if there was a compelling story to tell. Particularly, Cregger has already discussed with The Mother actor, Matthew Patrick Davis, what a prequel movie following the origins of his character would look like. Read Cragger's quote below:
"Matthew (Davis, "The Mother") and I have actually had conversations about what a prequel would be and I'm not looking (to do that). I'm in the throws of writing something else right now, so I'm not focused on it, but like yeah, there could be a prequel. I think if there was a prequel to this movie it would have to follow The Mother. It would have to make The Mother the main character and would have to tell her story.
"And I think that's interesting to me, I don't want to make a prequel about Frank abducting women, that's that's not interesting to me. If there's a way that we can crack that story, then I think that could be a really interesting cool movie, you know? So yeah, I guess the answer is the opposite of what I said when you first asked me. Look at that, I really turned around on that whole prequel thing."
What A Barbarian Prequel Could Be About
Barbarian was well received by critics and fans alike, prompting excitement over the possibility of additional films from Cregger. While the director outright dismisses the idea of a prequel film following Frank as he abducts and abuses women, he is more open about exploring The Mother's origins. Despite being the primary antagonist of Barbarian, The Mother is a complex character with tragic, if not unsettling, motivations that could be fully explored in a prequel film. Allowing the audience an opportunity to empathize with The Mother's abusive and isolated upbringing offers an interesting new perspective to the story told in Barbarian.
However, anyone looking forward to a Barbarian sequel may be waiting for quite some time. Cregger is currently working on a new original horror script and is in talks to take the reins on some existing horror franchises as well. The director is currently not interested in returning to the film, but no longer is ruling it completely out. After the success of Barbarian, Cregger has plenty of opportunities to thrill and surprise audiences with his horror projects.
Source: ComicBook
