Posted in: Movies, TV, USA Network | Tagged: blumhouse, James DeMonaco, purge, The purge

The Purge Creator: TV Series Could Revisit Lena Heady's Mary Sandin

The Purge creator James DeMonaco on revisiting Mary Sandin's (Lena Heady) story for a TV series and how her life went after the first film.

With four sequel films (and another reportedly in development) and a two-season television series under its belt, James DeMonaco's "The Purge" franchise appears to be doing quite well. But that doesn't mean that there aren't more stories within the universe that DeMonaco would like to explore – and in a recent interview with Collider, that could include a look at what happened after the events of the first film from the perspective of Mary Sandin (Lena Heady), widow of Ethan Hawke's James Sandin (who died during the very event he supported until his eyes were opened too late to save him but not too late to save his family). "I always wanted to follow them up," DeMonaco shared. "And listen, if the strike ends and we get a chance, there is talk of doing an interesting take on a TV show where I would be able to do that because we'd be able to explore very intimate Purge stories, but I don't know if that's true, but I hope." In the following highlights, DeMonaco shares where Mary would be at this point – both physically and mentally – and the benefits of television to the franchise.

DeMonaco on Mary Sandin's Status Post-"The Purge": "I think they move away. I would say they would do what I did. I think a family that experiences that much trauma and loss on that night – and Lena's character, I always thought, way more than James, the Lena Headey character was questioning The Purge in a way that he wasn't. He was just accepting the financial rewards of selling security systems. Lena always said she wanted to play it like she was dead inside, that the mere fact that The Purge existed had killed her soul.

So she kind of wanted to play it, and I think she plays it beautifully. She's constantly kind of looking at her reflections and contemplating quietly what this all means. I think if you experience that level of trauma, you exit pretty quickly the country. I don't think you can buy into a government system that sanctions this. I always want to follow the Sandins on that journey to another country, which is what I thought it would be. But then that country maybe starts purging, too, and the cycle of crap continues in the world."

DeMonaco on TV & Film Having Different Roles in "The Purge" Universe: "I think it would be a great way [TV series]– I can't give away the conceit, but it opens it up in a way that the canvas would be, we can pay attention to a lot of people," he said. "The movies always have to be, as you know, they're summer releases, July 4th. They have this kind of momentum, like a punch in the face. I always say I'm not the most nuanced filmmaker in 'The Purge' world because we're kind of just really slamming both the messaging and the story points home in that 95 minutes we have."

DeMonaco on "The Beauty of TV" & How It Can Best Be Used: "The beauty of TV, what I'm learning is, I'm definitely more of a film guy, but what I'm learning about TV in watching TV and learning more about it is that the real estate just allows you to dive deeper into things that you can never do in a movie. Take your time to really explain why someone would pick up a gun on that night and what drives them to this decision in a way that I really can't do in the film. So I think it would be great. And we can get into more detailed things of what happened to the Sandin family. Even other characters throughout that people have fallen in love with. We can get into that. I think the conceit of the show, if it happens, will allow entry into smaller films and revisiting characters, too."

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