'Lights Out' Director David F. Sandberg Reveals His Unused Sequel Ideas (2025)

David F. Sandberg understands the key to crafting a good horror film. Having a sturdy background in making short films, many from the jumpy genre, Sandberg grasps what audiences expect when they head to the cinema and are ready to be terrified. When the director scored his first feature-length film, Lights Out, which was based on his short of the same name, audiences showed up in droves, launching the 2016 Teresa Palmer (A Discovery of Witches) starrer towards becoming a smash hit at the box office.

Almost a full decade later the movie is still a cult classic, with Collider recently holding a screening in LA as part of Scary Perri’s Horror Series. Because of its success and quickly solidified following, the studio initially greenlit a sequel. Unfortunately, that follow-up film has never seen the light of day and likely never will. But, fear not — for those who’ve wondered what could have been, we’ve got you! During a Q&A with Collider’s Perri Nemiroff, following the screening, Sandberg revealed the story that audiences likely would have seen had Lights Out 2 ever been made.

Sharing that the creative team behind the second installment in what could have become the Lights Out franchise had “a draft at one point,” Sandberg breaks down the sequel’s general idea.

"In that draft, Martin was still young, and he’s not young anymore. He’s like a man now, you know. No, but she was sort of attacking a new family, but then this cast got involved to sort of help out with that. Because, I mean, you kind of have to do that. Because the fun thing with a horror movie is the discovery when the haunting starts, and you don’t know what’s going on. So, if she just comes back to this cast, like, ‘Well, yeah, we know who Diana is. We’ve dealt with her before.’ So if you have a different family at first, then they can go through all that, but then you can have this cast come in and sort of, you know, be the experts to help defeat."

'Lights Out' Features Makings of a Perfect Horror Antagonist

For those who may need a quick refresher, Lights Out is centered around a family haunted by a sinister entity. There’s certainly a lot more to it than that, but essentially, Maria Bello's Sophie has conversations with an entity whom she calls “Diana," and Diana doesn't like it when others come between them. That's why Diana targeted Sophie's daughter, Rebecca (Palmer), in the past and that's also why she has it out for Rebecca's young brother, Martin (Gabriel Bateman), now. Filled with jump scares and heart-pounding moments, the movie was a non-stop thrill ride from start to finish.

Understanding what many horror directors do about how to make a successful sequel, Sandberg, who also helmed the prequel Annabelle: Creation, crafts an image of how the story would’ve been able to continue. As audiences have seen in franchises like Scream and Child’s Play, new characters must always be introduced who can either be added to the suspect list or kill count. And, in the case of stories like Lights Out, or one of the many projects from the Child’s Play franchise, that new group has to be completely in the dark (so to speak) about the villain.

While we’d love to see a Lights Out sequel and more horror from the director down the line, it’s intriguing to know where Sandberg and his team would’ve carried audiences originally. Check out the full Q&A with Sandberg below and stream Lights Out now on Netflix.

Lights Out

PG-13

Horror

Mystery

Thriller

Rebecca must unlock the terror behind her little brother's experiences that once tested her sanity, bringing her face to face with a supernatural spirit attached to their mother.

Release Date

July 22, 2016

Director

David F. Sandberg

Cast

Teresa Palmer , Maria Bello , Billy Burke , Alicia Vela-Bailey , Emily Alyn Lind , Gabriel Bateman

Runtime

81 minutes

Main Genre

Horror

Studio

Warner Bros.

Writers

Eric Heisserer , David F. Sandberg

Tagline

You were right to be afraid of the dark.

Website

http://www.lightsoutmovie.com/#

Watch on Netflix