There have been eight films in the Leprechaun franchise to date, with 2018’s Leprechaun Returns most recently heading back to the original movie’s timeline in the wake of reboot Leprechaun Origins four years prior. What’s next? As Bloody Disgusting told you last year, Lionsgate has been actively seeking pitches for the next Leprechaun movie.
As an update to that scoop, THR reports this afternoon that Lionsgate has now hired director Felipe Vargas (Milk Teeth, below) to “reimagine” the Leprechaun franchise.
Mike Van Waes wrote the screenplay.
Roy Lee is producing through Vertigo Entertainment.
THR notes, “[Warwick] Davis is not expected to reprise the role.”
“Thirty years after its debut, this franchise still casts a spell, and we’re thrilled to be bringing it back with a new vision,” Erin Westerman, president of production for Lionsgate’s Motion Picture Group, said in a statement. “Roy and Miri are two of our most trusted producers, especially with this genre, and we’re excited by Felipe’s vision for the film as a director.
“In his hands, this movie should be very scary and a ton of fun.”
The Leprechaun franchise kicked off with Mark Jones’s original horror-comedy in 1993, which was followed by five Warwick Davis-starring sequels, a reboot, and later Leprechaun Returns in 2018. Even though Leprechaun Returns was a sequel to the original movie, Linden Porco took over the role of the title character, played by Dylan Postl for Leprechaun Origins.