With her now the de facto protagonist of the series, Lin Shaye is pitching her ideas for future Elise-focused Insidious movies. Elise was introduced in the first Insidious movie as a psychic with a history of helping the Lamberts with their haunting, unbeknownst to patriarch Josh as his memory was suppressed as a child. Though murdered by a possessed Josh at the end of the first movie, Shaye would continue returning as a spirit in Insidious: Chapter 2 and alive in the subsequent prequels, Chapter 3 and The Last Key, exploring some of her backstory.
While reflecting on the seeming end of the franchise in the next sequel, Screen Rant spoke exclusively with Lin Shaye for her thoughts on the Insidious franchise's future after The Red Door. In particular, the star shared her thoughts on more Elise-focused movies, confirming having ideas to write up a story treatment for her character's next steps, or working with her son on a number of other thoughts. Check out what Shaye shared below:
Yeah, I have some ideas, I've thought about doing a little treatment with some thoughts I have about where she is in The Further, what she could be doing in The Further. It opens up your own imagination, and because The Further is not defined at all, except for there being fog on the floor, it's sort of all we know for sure. [Laughs] So, I definitely have some thoughts that I really may put into action and do a lookbook or something with my son, we've talked about that. He's a very savvy writer and creator. I wouldn't do anything, obviously, without approval of any kind, but in of my own imagination, there's some nice stories I can come up with.
How Elise's Story Could Continue After The Red Door
As both Insidious: Chapter 3 and The Last Key have shown, one of the biggest ways for Elise's story to continue within the franchise would be some form of prequel setting. The latter prequel did come full circle with the first movie, essentially establishing that Elise and her nieces inadvertently were the reasons Dalton Lambert was targeted by the Lipstick-Face Demon. That being said, Shaye has exclusively told Screen Rant she hopes to see more of her niece, Imogen's, story following in Elise's footsteps with her psychic abilities.
I mean, that was something that always — it didn't bother me, but I always wondered why they ended it like that if they weren't going to continue on some other road with those same characters. I have no idea, it's been a finicky franchise in that way where they've set up other characters that have come through different installments that we never see again, or that storyline never goes further, so — pardon the expression — maybe we'll all end up in The Further. [Laughs] It's possible, we've really created a true universe of people, so it's sort of open-ended, totally, which is a beautiful way to create.
With Shaye indicating that Elise's story could go endlessly with her existing in The Further, that also opens a wealth of opporutnity for her return in future Insidious stories. One such project could be the in-development spinoff Thread starring Kumail Nanjiani and Mandy Moore. Though story details remain under lock and key on the project, producer James Wan has exclusively confirmed that it will "take off from the world of The Further" in the same vein as The Conjuring Universe, indicating the spiritual realm could return and bring Elise with it.
Another potential route to be explored for Elise in the Insidious franchise is her ongoing work with her partners Specs and Tucker as teased in Chapter 2's cliffhanger ending in which she was seemingly confronted by the Lipstick-Face Demon again. The concept of ghost hunters investigating cases with their psychic solely being on the other side of the spiritual plane is one not hardly touched in the horror genre and could create devastating stakes for Elise in trying to protect those she cares about in the world of the living.
