Sometimes a filmmaker appears down and out and destined for director’s jail, but M. Night Shyamalan’s “Split” proved going back to low budget basics can regalvanize a career. “Split” was an unqualified success at the box office with a haul grossing $277 million worldwide off a $9 million dollar budget. If you saw “Split,” you know that the twist ending reveals that the film is a “soft sequel” to Shyamalan’s 2000 film “Unbreakable.” Shyamalan will be exploring more of this territory with his newest film “Glass,” set to be released in 2019. And it was revealed last night that “Glass” will be bringing back some of the actors from both the “Unbreakable” and “Split” universe.
Anya Taylor-Joy, who delivered a surprisingly in-depth performance as Casey Cooke in “Split,” will be returning for the sequel. Also reprising their roles are Spencer Treat Clarke, now a fully grown adult, who played David Dunn’s (Bruce Willis) son, Joseph in “Unbreakable.” Finally, Charlayne Woodard, who played Elijah Price’s (Samuel L. Jackson) mother during the flashback scenes of “Unbreakable” will be returning for Glass.
The basic premise of Glass reveals that Bruce Willis’ David Dunn will be searching for James McAvoy’s character “The Beast,” which (spoiler) was revealed at the end of Split to be McAvoy’s 23rd personality of his mentally unstable character. Jackson will be returning as Elijah Price, with revelations that could help David Dunn on his quest. “Split” was unquestionably M. Night Shyamalan’s finest work in years. The film combined lingering suspense with tongue-in-cheek humor in a way that reflected the early mainstream classics of Shyamalan’s early work. The question is whether “Glass” can merge the styles, sensibilities and characters into one successful film, but the project is undoubtedly the most ambitious of his films in over a decade. Shyamalan will once again work double duty as director and screenwriter, putting him front and center of the film’s storyline. “Glass” is set for release on January 18, 2019. [THR]