Is The Babysitter 3 Happening? This Slasher Comedy Franchise Might Not Be Dead After All
Consider the career of one Joseph McGinty Nichol, better known by the nom de plume McG. This is a man whose directorial debut as a feature filmmaker in 2000 was the paradigm-shifting, zeitgeist-grabbing, new millennium bar-setter "Charlie's Angels." Sit with that for a moment. His next film? The extraordinary sequel "Full Throttle." Mind you these were gigs that star and producer Drew Barrymore personally sought out McG for based on the music videos he made for the band Sugar Ray. One of the more significant sliding doors moments in modern American history is the fact that McG was the original frontman for the band that would become Sugar Ray, before humbly realizing his talents lay elsewhere and convincing high school buddy Mark McGrath to take over.
McG helped launch and executive produce both "The OC" and "Supernatural," he produced "Pussycat Dolls Present: The Search for the Next Doll" and "Pussycat Dolls Present: Girlicious," and he's stuck by the long-gestating "Spring Awakening" movie in development hell for years. Do you understand what this man has done for millennial Tumblr users? We haven't even gotten to the "Babysitter" movies. Nothing will top the combined power of Cameron Diaz, Lucy Liu, and Drew Barrymore, but Samara Weaving, Bella Thorne, and Jenna Ortega come pretty close.
Released in 2017, "The Babysitter" followed the frantic fight of an innocent pre-teen (Judah Lewis) against his hot satanic babysitter (Samara Weaving) and her cult of devotees. The sequel, 2020's "The Babysitter: Killer Queen," didn't pull off the rare feat that "Full Throttle" accomplished, which is basically just to stay within the quality vicinity of the first film. But both films are simple, raunchy, feminine fun at the movies, something we get less and less of (despite overwhelming evidence of demand). You may be asking now, will there be a "Babysitter 3?" And I can finally give you a definite answer.
Why hasn't The Babysitter 3 happened yet?
"The Babysitter" was an unexpected hit on Netflix. Or at least that's what they say, as streamers have long maintained a practice of keeping their viewership data to themselves. But they wouldn't have greenlit a sequel without solid evidence of demand, so we can assume there's some truth there. "Killer Queen" however? Again, in the absence of hard data, we have to rely on critical response, and it was far more lukewarm regarding "Killer Queen" than the original. Just take a look at /Film's official Netflix horror film ranking: while "The Babysitter" cracked the top 10 at #8, "Killer Queen" was pegged far down at #23. The chances of a threequel have been far less certain than they were for a sequel following the first film.
But a recent exclusive from ComicBook.com has revealed that a third film is in the works. In an interview to promote "Family Switch," his new holiday film (a jack of all trades and master of some, we love to see it), McG spoke on the next entry in the "Babysitter"-verse:
"Yeah, we're still talking about it. It was fun. The first movie, obviously, gave Samara Weaving to the world, and the second movie was Jenna Ortega. Hopefully we can answer the call and find a third star that reaches those lofty heights."
While it's not exactly accurate to say these movies "gave" Samara Weaving and Jenna Ortega their first big breaks (Weaving had already starred in "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri" and Joe Lynch's "Mayhem" while Jenna Ortega had already snagged a main role on Netflix's "You"), I get what he means. These were those actresses' first big-ish horror films, and that's the genre that more-or-less defines both of their careers. Who could be next?
What could happen in The Babysitter 3?
We at /Film are huge fans of Madeleine and Violet McGraw, the dynamic sisters behind some of the best child horror performances in recent years. Madeleine made her screen debut in a 2014 episode of "Bones" but has only kept the horror streak going with a phenomenal turn in Scott Derrickson's "The Black Phone." Violet, however, has already earned the mantle of modern scream queen at only 12 years old with performances in films like "M3GAN," "Doctor Sleep," "Separation," and Mike Flanagan's "Haunting of Hill House" series. Why not cast them both as Damien-esque devil children on the hunt for fresh blood?
As for what could happen in "The Babysitter 3," it's basically an anything goes situation after McG introduced the possibility of reincarnation via blood magic in the sequel. Franchise big bad Bee (Weaving) brings her slain cult brethren back from the dead to once again extract and perform rituals with Cole's (Judah Lewis) blood. Though they all disintegrate at the film's end after drinking his now tainted blood (he had sex), it seems pretty reasonable that they could just ... reintegrate again for a third round.
As Jenna Ortega has dropped out of "Scream VII" and doesn't seem to love working on "Wednesday," her participation isn't certain. Weaving always seems like she's having a good time in these movies, but she may also be up and on to better things, so it's unclear whether she'd return. Judah Lewis hasn't had the same career glow-up after starring in these movies as those two have, so he seems a shoo-in, especially after starring in the schlocky fun Joe Lynch flick, "Suitable Flesh" in 2023. McG's comments indicate that, should a "Babysitter 3" happen, he'd likely be at the helm again, so whoever winds up on camera, we can rest easy knowing we have a master behind the scenes.