Republic Pictures has acquired the U.S. rights to the Orphan franchise prequel Orphans from Dark Castle Entertainment, Deadline has learned.
The film, which will soon wrap production in Budapest, serves as a prequel to 2022’s Orphan: First Kill, which itself was a prequel to 2009’s Orphan.
Isabelle Fuhrman — now 28 years old — will play an even younger version of Esther. Like First Kill, the effect is expected to be accomplished through a combination of makeup, forced perspective, and body doubles.
William Brent Bell (Orphan: First Kill, The Boy) directs from a script by David Coggeshall (Orphan: First Kill, The Haunting in Connecticut 2: Ghosts of Georgia).
Stephen Moyer (“True Blood”), Susanne Wuest (Goodnight Mommy), and Simon Man (“Westworld”) also star.
Dark Castle’s Norman Golightly produces with Alex Mace of Gnosis Films and original Orphan writer David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick. Fuhrman serves as executive producer alongside Kelly Gallagher and Victor Moyers.
“Surrounding Isabelle with Stephen, Simon, and Susanne will deliciously add to the twists, turns, and kills that Orphan fans have come to love and expect from the franchise,” said Golightly.
“We’re thrilled to bring the next chapter of the Orphan franchise to audiences across the US,” added Sejin Croninger, EVP, Worldwide Acquisitions, Paramount Pictures. “Dark Castle has built an iconic series, and this new installment expands that world in bold and unexpected ways.”
Orphan made close to $78 million at the global box office. In the film, a husband and wife who recently lost their baby adopt a 9-year-old girl who is not nearly as innocent as she claims to be.
Orphan: First Kill grossed $37 million worldwide. In it, Esther escapes from an Estonian psychiatric facility and travels to America by impersonating the missing daughter of a wealthy family, pitting her against a mother who will protect her family at any cost.
