Posted in: Horror, Lionsgate, Movies | Tagged: lionsgate, the strangers, the strangers - chapter 3

The Strangers Star on Making Maya's Choices Feel Real in Chapter 3

The star of Lionsgate's The Strangers discusses the biggest change to the final chapter of the reboot trilogy.

Despite rough reviews and plenty of less-than-positive buzz online, this new take on The Strangers is actually going to finish what it started.

The Strangers – Chapter 3 officially arrives later this month as the final part of Renny Harlin's slasher reboot trilogy, wrapping a story that was always meant to unfold across three films with the same protagonist at the core. Upon release, Chapter 1 earned about $48 million worldwide, while Chapter 2 dipped to roughly $22 million, but with a combined budget of just over $8 million, it was definitely enough to validate a theatrical release for the third installment.

Additionally, all three chapters were shot back-to-back in Slovakia in 2022, then Chapters 2 and Chapter 3 went through more than twenty days of extra photography after the first movie came out, so the team could respond to audience feedback. A lot of that time was also focused entirely on Chapter 3, which positions this last entry as the real stress test for the trilogy's big picture plan.

Madelaine Petsch, who has played survivor Maya from the start and now holds a producer credit, says her main push was to deepen the character in this final stretch.

The Strangers Star on Chapter 3 Changes

Petsch says to Screen Rant, "I'm a horror fan, so I feel like I have a good sense of what audiences are looking for. It really came down to grounding Maya more, making her choices feel real. I wanted her to make the most sophisticated choices possible, the kind of choices someone who's never been in a horror movie would realistically make. That depth was the biggest change [to Chapter 3]."

Harlin has described the project as one lengthy story chopped into three acts, with Chapter 3 designed as the payoff for people who stuck through the cliffhangers and the slower middle section. In terms of story, Chapter 1 follows Maya and her boyfriend after a breakdown in the small town of Venus, Oregon, where a remote cabin stay turned into a night of torment at the hands of three masked intruders. Chapter 2 kept her in Venus and pushed her deeper into the town's history with the Strangers and the people who enable them, ending on another bleak setup for a final showdown. Chapter 3 picks up as Maya faces the killers one last time, with Gabriel Basso, Ema Horvath, and Richard Brake joining Petsch to close out the arc.

The Strangers – Chapter 3 arrives in theaters on February 6 from Lionsgate, giving the trilogy one last shot to win over horror fans who have been waiting to see if this long game was worth it.

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