Ari Aster has already written a prequel to Hereditary, the 2018 horror film that pushed the genre to new limits with its supernatural themes and layered plot. At a Bleak Week screening of the film at New York’s Metrograph theatre in June 2026, the director confirmed the script for the film already exists, though he’s uncertain when, or if, it will ever get made. But given that he hasn’t had much luck at the box office outside of his first two films, it’s probably time that Aster returns to scaring audiences again.
What Makes Hereditary Worth Returning To
Thanks to his first two feature films, Hereditary and Midsommar, Aster has built a reputation as one of the best directors working today – even if Beau Is Afraid and Eddington failed to find an audience. Still, his breakthrough feature remains his most praised work to date, even gaining attention from other filmmakers like Martin Scorsese, Edgar Wright, Barry Jenkins and Robert Eggers, who all called it masterful and genuinely terrifying.
Hereditary is a psychological supernatural thriller that tells the story of a grieving family tormented by a malevolent entity, entertaining occultism with interpersonal family dynamics to deliver a unique and fresh approach to horror storytelling. Toni Collette’s portrayal of Annie Graham, a woman in pain and despair, was praised by critics (and, honestly, deserved an Oscar nod. It was one of the best performances of that year). Collette channels madness, grief, and a host of emotions into her character and is well supported by the rest of the cast that includes Alex Wolff, Milly Shapiro, Gabriel Byrne and Ann Dowd.
In an interview with Vulture, Collette mentioned that playing Annie was the most demanding job of her life. She said, “It was just endlessly emotional — and there were lots of emotions. It’s one of the jobs where you get to go to work and roll around in ideas of grief and resentment and rage and all of these extremes in life, and we were dabbling in that area for weeks on end. There was no easy moment in this movie.”
The Australian actress also mentioned that despite the hardships of portraying Annie, it was still an immensely satisfying experience playing with the emotional extremes of the character.
Ari Aster Confirms He Has a Finished Hereditary Script
Surprisingly, Ari Aster has been talking about a potential follow-up for some time now.
In April 2023, he attended a double feature of the abovementioned films at the American Cinematheque’s Aero Theatre. During a Q&A, Aster was asked if there will ever be a follow-up to Hereditary, and the director replied, “I have an idea for a sequel to Hereditary… Who knows if I’ll ever do it.”
That conversation has since changed. At the Metrograph screening, Aster confirmed he has already written a script set in the Hereditary world, though not the sequel fans might have expected. “I wrote a prequel to this,” he told the audience. “It never feels like the right time. It’s a prequel, not a sequel, so I don’t know where this goes.”
A few months before his upcoming film Scapegoat was announced, Aster had mentioned three potential projects in development — a sci-fi film, an Eddington spiritual sequel, and a horror movie. The Hereditary prequel script is probably that horror project. What it actually covers remains unknown, but the film’s occult mythology actually runs deep enough to sustain an origin story entirely on its own. We don’t know how the grandmother got into the occult. We didn’t see how she tortured Annie as a child. We don’t really know what her endgame with Paimon was. There’s lots to explore.
A24, the studio that produced the film, works closely with Aster and has a first-look deal with the filmmaker. Hopefully, they will be in discussion with Aster about bringing the prequel to life. And given that A24 has just recently had huge success with Backrooms, it sounds like the perfect time for more horror.
Why Hereditary’s Legacy Makes a Prequel Worth Waiting For
Aster probably has excellent ideas for where the prequel could go, and time will tell if the film ever gets made. With or without it, Hereditary has secured its legacy as one of the greatest horror films of all time. Aster’s clever balance of traditional horror tropes and occultism, devoid of clichés, combined with underlying interpersonal drama, set the film apart. Now audiences need more of it.
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