Whenever anybody involved in a lucrative franchise claims that the current installment is the last one, nobody believes them, and it didn’t take long for The Purge to lend even more credence to that belief. This summer’s The Forever Purge was touted as the final entry in a series that’s earned over half a billion dollars worldwide, but sequel talk had already started before the film was released.
In fact, star Frank Grillo and creator James DeMonaco both directly confirmed to We Got This Covered within a few days of each other that a sixth Purge focusing on Grillo’s returning Leo Barnes was happening, and it might even shoot as soon as next summer.
The actor and writer/director each revealed that a script is written, but the green light all depends on studio Universal and producer Jason Blum. In a new interview with ComicBook, the Blumhouse head honcho admitted that he hasn’t read the screenplay, so he’s not really in a position to rule anything in or out.
“I don’t have a more solid answer, but I would say it’s certainly a possibility. We’re not for sure doing it, but we’re not for sure not doing it, either. We just haven’t figured it out yet. I do know that he has a script. I have not read it yet, but I do know James has written a script and it would certainly be fun to do another one.”
Hollywood loves to milk any cash cow for all that it’s worth, and The Purge is a shining example of Blumhouse’s low risk/high reward business model. DeMonaco has a script that he won’t make without Grillo, and the leading man is more than game for a comeback, so it’s surely only a matter of time before the sixth chapter in the saga is officially confirmed.