If it isn’t one franchise getting revived, it’s another, seemingly. We recently learned that Lionsgate is looking to revive The Blair Witch Project for modern audiences. Now? It appears the studio is also looking to bring Leprechaun back from the dead with a new film in the long-running franchise.
According to Bloody Disgusting, the studio is “actively seeking out pitches for the next Leprechaun movie.” Unfortunately, for the time being, that’s about all we’ve got in terms of specifics. Interestingly, that seems to be similar to this new Blair Witch movie’s reported status. In both cases, these appear to be in the very early stages, with Lionsgate looking for the right pitch and the right filmmaker to revive something that is, for the moment, dead.
When last we saw the little horror icon, it was in 2018’s Leprechaun Returns, which brought the series back to the original timeline. Though Warwick Davis played the titular part in the first six installments, he did not return to the role in 2018. Linden Porco took over as our new Leprechaun for the most recent reboot, with Dylan Postl taking on the role prior to that in Leprechaun Origins, released in 2014. There is no telling where this new entry might go, be it a full-on reboot/remake or as a legacy sequel of sorts like this year’s Scream or 2018’s Halloween.
One thing we know for sure is that director Darren Lynn Bousman, known for directing four of the Saw films, including Saw II and Spiral: From the Book of Saw, has desperately wanted to take a crack at a Leprechaun movie and has been openly talking about it for years. In fact, once the news broke recently, the filmmaker took to Twitter to once again express his desire to Lionsgate, very sincerely.
Someday. @Lionsgate will take me seriously and actually call me about this. I’ve only been begging for two decades. But, whatevs. https://t.co/KGR9qV6Vp0.
— Darren_Bousman (@darren_bousman) April 18, 2022
Why, exactly, Lionsgate hasn’t really heard Bousman out remains a mystery. The man has certainly made them a whole lot of money with his contributions to the Saw franchise. Why not give him a crack at it? One sticking point, though could be Davis, as Bousman has stated he would not want to do it without the actor who originated the role. It remains wholly unclear if Davis would want to return at this point in his career.
Leprechaun was originally released in 1993, and though it didn’t make a big splash at the box office, it did well enough on home video to warrant a sequel the following year in the form of Leprechaun 2. In the years that followed, we would also get Leprechaun 3, Leprechaun 4: In Space, Leprechaun in the Hood, and Leprechaun: Back 2 tha Hood. Yes, Leprechaun made it to space long before Jason, and that’s got to count for something.
Leprechaun is streaming for free on Tubi and the Roku Channel, click below to watch now.
