Last August, Bloody Disgusting exclusively told you that Legendary Entertainment/Legendary Pictures was in the mix to not only develop new films based on Tobe Hooper‘s original slasher masterpiece The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, but also a television series.

In October 2017, Lionsgate released Leatherface, a prequel to Texas Chain Saw Massacre that was produced by Millenium Films. Sources told us before the film’s release that rights had turned back over to Kim Henkel, writer and producer on the 1974 slasher classic and also director of Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation (1994).

A lot has happened since the previous report. Not only are we told that Legendary has closed this deal, but we’re hearing exclusively that Fede Álvarez (Evil Dead, Don’t Breathe) is producing for Henkel and Legendary. To clarify, this is not meant as a directing vehicle for Álvarez, who is seeking a filmmaker to attach to the project.

While plans aren’t set in stone, we’re hearing that the hope is to make a direct sequel to Hooper’s ’74 film, similar to what Blumhouse and Universal have done with Halloween. Unfortunately, Texas Chain Saw Massacre‘s Final Girl, Marilyn Burns, passed away in 2014. It will be interesting to see how they continue the story without her, although it could just focus on the current state of the Sawyer family.

Legendary has closed a deal for Ryan and Andy Tohill to direct a reboot of the classic 1974 horror film “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre,” sources tell Variety.

The pic will be written by Chris Thomas Devlin with Bad Hombre’s Fede Alvarez and Rodolfo Sayagues producing through their overall deal with Legendary.

“The Tohill’s vision is exactly what the fans want,” Alvarez said in a statement. “It’s violent, exciting and so depraved that it will stay with you forever.”

The original 1974 Tobe Hooper movie followed two siblings and three of their friends en route to visit their grandfather’s grave in Texas, who end up falling victim to a family of cannibalistic psychopaths and must survive the terrors of Leatherface and his family.

What was at first considered a cult classic has grown into one of horror’s most iconic properties, spawning three sequels, including one that starred Matthew McConaughey and Renee Zellweger. Michael Bay’s Platinum Dunes rebooted the movie in 2003 to box office success, leading to a 2006 prequel. Lionsgate followed that up with two other new entries in the franchise, “Texas Chainsaw 3D” and “Leatherface.”

Legendary landed the rights around the time the studio signed Bad Hombre to a first-look deal and sees an opportunity to relaunch the franchise all over again.

Plot details on this latest reboot are being kept under wraps, including how the infamous chainsaw-wielding Leatherface fits into this new world.

The Tohill’s first feature film, “The Dig,” premiered at the Galway Film Fleadh in 2018, winning best Irish feature. It was accepted at the Toronto International Film Festival, and scored a nomination at the British Independent Film Awards in 2018. It was distributed in the U.K. by Element Pictures and in the U.S. by Electric Entertainment. The duo has also directed shorts which won awards in the festival circuit, and were named best newcomer directors at the Cornwall Film Festival for “Eye Line.” In 2015, they directed the short “Insulin,” based within the world of the BAFTA-nominated Irish film “The Survivalist.”

Previously, Ryan worked in the art department of TV productions such as HBO’s “Game of Thrones” and BBC’s “Line of Duty” and “The Fall,” as well as numerous feature films like “Philomena.” Andy has had a career as an editor, working on U.K. TV shows and documentaries.

Announced last year, Fede Alvarez (Don’t Breathe, Evil Dead) is producing a feature film that will bring The Texas Chainsaw Massacre back to the big screen, with an official website recently being launched for the upcoming movie. David Blue Garcia (Tejano) directed the movie for Legendary, which was written by Chris Thomas Devlin and filmed last year.

Speaking with Bloody Disgusting’s The Boo Crew Podcast this week, Alvarez confirmed that the new movie is indeed a sequel to Tobe Hooper’s original classic, as we had suspected. Alvarez also dropped the exclusive bomb that the movie is apparently set many years after the events of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, with Leatherface now a much older man.

“It is a direct sequel, and it is the same character. It is old man Leatherface,” Alvarez confirmed.

Alvarez also noted in the chat with The Boo Crew that the new movie is taking an old school approach, with the gore gags being executed practically whenever possible.

“Everything is classic, old school gags. A lot of the approach that we had with Evil Dead – never VFX, to do everything on camera. It’s a very old school approach to filmmaking. Vintage lenses… it’s very similar to the original film,” Alvarez explained to the podcast.

The 2013 film Texas Chainsaw 3D was similarly a sequel to the original Chain Saw, with that film also centered around “old man Leatherface.” For that movie, Dan Yeager played the character the late Gunnar Hansen first brought to the screen, and at this time we don’t yet know who will be carrying the chainsaw in the Alvarez-produced take on a Chain Saw sequel.

One thing that the various Texas Chainsaw Massacre sequels have *never* done is bring back the final girl from the original classic, Sally Hardesty, who was played by Marilyn Burns in Tobe Hooper’s 1974 movie. Even the remake substituted a new character in Sally’s place, with Burns appearing in a small cameo in The Next Generation but never reprising the role.

Sadly, Marilyn Burns passed away back in 2014, shortly after playing a new character in Texas Chainsaw 3D, but Bloody Disgusting has been able to confirm this week that the character she made famous will be returning to the screen in the upcoming Fede Alvarez-produced Texas Chainsaw Massacre, a decades-later sequel to Tobe Hooper’s original horror classic.

The film will bring Leatherface back to the screen as a much older man, and we’ve learned thatMandy and Sea Fever actress Olwen Fouéré will be playing an older Sally Hardesty!

Sally Hardesty was of course the sole survivor in the 1974 movie, tormented and tortured by Leatherface and his family but ultimately escaping with her life. Just barely, that is.

David Blue Garcia (Tejano) directed the movie for Legendary, which was written by Chris Thomas Devlin and filmed last year. Stay tuned for more as we learn it.

Elsie Fisher (“Castle Rock”), Sarah Yarkin (Happy Death Day 2U), Mark Burnham (Wrong Cops), Moe Dunford (The Dig), Olwen Fouéré (Mandy), Alice Krige (“Star Trek”), Jacob Latimore (The Maze Runner), Nell Hudson (Victoria), Jessica Allain (The Laundromat), Sam Douglas (Snatch), William Hope (Dark Shadows), and Jolyon Coy (“War & Peace”) star.

Alvarez is producing with Bad Hombre’s Rodolfo Sayagues, alongside Kim Henkel (co-writer of the 1974 film), Ian Henkel and Pat Cassidy, who are producing via their Exurbia Films.

The next thundering roar of the chainsaw movie audiences will hear will be from Netflix.

The streaming giant has picked up global rights to the latest installment of Texas Chainsaw Massacre from Legendary Pictures.

David Blue Garcia directed the horror movie, which shot last year in Bulgaria and is produced by filmmaker Fede Alvarez and Rodolfo Sayagues via their Bad Hombre banner, as well as Kim Henkel, Ian Henkel, and Pat Cassidy of Exurbia Films, and Legendary Pictures.

The original Chainsaw, released in 1974 and directed by Tobe Hooper, is considered one of the most influential horror movies of all time. It introduced the character of Leatherface, a member of a family of cannibals who is a hulking figure with a deformed face, hidden by the skin of his victims. The character has been a constant in the many sequels, prequels and ancillary appearances in other media.


The new movie takes place years after the shocking events of the original, in a setting where Leatherface hasn’t been seen or heard from since. Per Netflix and Legendary, the film seeks to pick up where the Hooper and Kim Henkel film initially left off, bringing the most notorious horror franchise back to life in the same bold and provocative manner that it was first introduced to the world.

The cast includes Elsie Fisher (Eighth Grade), Sarah Yarkin (Happy Death Day 2U), Jacob Latimore (The Maze Runner) and Moe Dunford (Vikings).