At this point, it’s safe to point out that writer/director/producer M. Night Shyamalan’s Split had a connection to his 2000 film Unbreakable. More of a side story, perhaps, but it implied that it would lead directly into a sequel for that Bruce Willis-starring “realistic” superhero story. And via Twitter this morning, Shyamalan has announced that it’s happening. Glass will be released on January 18, 2019.
In a series of tweets, he confirmed that Willis would return as David Dunn, Samuel L. Jackson would return as Elijah Price/Mr. Glass, and the absolutely crucial James McAvoy would return as “The Horde,” listing several of the personalities within and hinting at a new one — “Kevin Wendell Crumb, Patricia, Dennis, Hedwig, Barry, Jade, Orwell, The Beast, Heinrich, Norma, Pol-” Nice tease.
Interestingly, and I think satisfyingly, he also announced that the real hero of Split, Casey Cooke (Anya Taylor-Joy) would be back. While the end of Split offered a sadly ambiguous fate for Casey, Shyamalan had also set her up as the perfect foil for The Beast, potentially the one person he knows he should not harm.
Once again, F. Scott Fitzgerald has been proven wrong, and M. Night Shyamalan proven right: there’s always a twist, and a third act to American lives. After making a splash with The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable, then descending into a sort of film hell that culminated in The Last Airbender, Shyamalan has once again become a director to watch. I guess we always love a good redemption story — and I’m not saying that with snark.
