Blumhouse’s Most Underrated Horror Franchise Will Get Its Finale, Even If Its Star Has To Wait 30 Years

Rothe played time-looping slasher final girl Tree Gelbman in the original 2017 Blumhouse horror-comedy movie and its 2019 sequel. While it was announced in 2020 that the sequel Happy Death Day To Us was in development with franchise director Christopher Landon (who also wrote the sequel) returning, it has been in development hell since then despite periodic hopeful updates.

In an interview with ScreenRant’s Ash Crossan for her new thriller Imposters at our SXSW media suite, Jessica Rothe reasserted her interest in doing the third Happy Death Day movie, in whatever form it takes (it has been hinted that it could be a crossover with Landon’s 2020 body-swap slasher Freaky, which he co-wrote with Michael Kennedy).

She said that Landon “has the whole thing figured out” and insists that “I will be there to finish Tree’s story… whether it’s next year or when I’m 65, pulling a Jamie Lee Curtis,” referencing the Oscar-winning actor returning to reprise the role of final girl Laurie Strode in Blumhouse’s Halloween trilogy while in her late fifties and early sixties. Read Rothe’s full quote below:

I think that that, though, is the power of zeitgeist. I think that the more we ask, and the more we put it into the Universe, it will happen. Because the truth is Chris Landon, our brilliant fearless writer/director, he has the whole third one figured out. And I’m sure he also has his version of the MCU — the Chris CU — like with Freaky, and Happy Death Day, and We Have a Ghost, and Scouts Guides to the Zombie Apocalypse, they all totally live in the same universe. So, that’s the crossover that I need right now in my life. But he has the whole thing figured out. I think at this point, it’s just logistics and all I’ll say to you and to all the fans is, whether it’s next year or when I’m 65, pulling a Jamie Lee Curtis coming back for Halloween, I will be there to finish Tree’s story. So it’s just a matter of when they get all their ducks in a row.

While Rothe’s comments are positive, they do seem to slightly walk back the statement that she made in spring 2025 when she spoke at the American Cinematheque and more confidently shared that “the third movie is moving forward.“

Part of the challenge of bringing the new Blumhouse movie to the screen is probably the fact that 2019’s Happy Death Day 2U was something of a financial disappointment. While the original movie grossed a whopping $125.5 million against a reported budget of just $4.8 million, the sequel had double the budget (reportedly $9 million) and made half as much worldwide ($64.6 million).

However, if the third installment ever gets the green light, it seems like it could still maintain strong continuity both in front of and behind the camera. In addition to Rothe’s insistence that she will return to play Tree for a third time, no matter the circumstances, Landon has remained in Blumhouse’s orbit since making 2019’s Happy Death Day and 2020’s Freaky.

While he has also helmed projects for other companies, his more recent collaborations with Blumhouse include directing 2025’s Drop and writing 2021’s Paranormal Activity: Next of Kin.

Additionally, Rothe has been keeping her skills sharp by appearing in a number of genre titles in the 2020s, including Imposters, the sci-fi horror movie Affection, and the action-comedy Boy Kills World. Therefore, should Happy Death Day 3 finally make it out of development hell, it could very well live up to the standard set by the first two movies, despite the long hiatus.