Sixteen years passed from the time Eli Roth made a slasher faux trailer called Thanksgiving for the Robert Rodriguez / Quentin Tarantino double feature Grindhouse to the day when a feature version of Thanksgiving (read our review HERE) finally made its way into theatres – and the fact that we’re being rewarded for our patience with not just that movie, but also a sequel that’s expected to reach theatres sometime in 2025 is truly something to be thankful about. Now Thanksgiving cast members Nell Verlaque and Rick Hoffman have confirmed to Games Radar that they are going to be coming back for Thanksgiving 2!
When asked if she’ll be in the sequel Roth is crafting with Thanksgiving co-writer Jeff Rendell, Verlaque said, “To my knowledge, yes. I think that it’ll be a continuation of where we last saw (her character). So we’ll see. But right now, I think so. When I’ve spoken to Eli about what he wants to do, I think he wants to flesh out the characters a lot – you know, these are traumatic events that happen to these people. And I think the reason the first one worked so well is [because] the relationships between everyone were very strong and you understood all of that.“
When he was asked if he’ll be returning, Hoffman said, “Based on what I’m told, I’m involved – I don’t want to give anything away, but based on what I’m told by the director, it’s gonna be an interesting experience for sure.“
Verlaque played heroine Jess in the first film, while Hoffman played her father Thomas.
Roth had been wanting to make a feature version of Thanksgiving ever since he made the faux trailer, and even wrote the screenplay with Rendell (who played the homicidal pilgrim in the trailer) a dozen years ago. The feature finally happened thanks to Spyglass Media stepping in to provide the funding. Roth jumped at the chance to get the movie made, even though it meant having Deadpool‘s Tim Miller take over as director on the reshoots for his video game adaptation Borderlands.
Roth and Rendell produced the film with Roger Birnbaum. Spyglass chairman and CEO Gary Barber and president of production Peter Oillataguerre serve as executive producers alongside Kate Harrison and Greg Denny of Cream Productions Inc. Oillataguerre and SVP Production & Development Chris Stone oversaw the project for Spyglass while Caellum Allan and Kelseigh Coombs oversaw for TriStar.
If you’ve watched the original Thanksgiving trailer, you have a good idea of what this slasher movie is about, but here’s the synopsis: After a Black Friday riot ends in tragedy, a mysterious Thanksgiving-inspired killer terrorizes Plymouth, Massachusetts – the birthplace of the infamous holiday.
Verlaque (Big Shot) and Hoffman (Hostel) were joined in the cast by Patrick Dempsey (Grey’s Anatomy), Addison Rae (He’s All That), Jalen Thomas Brooks (Walker), Milo Manheim (Z-O-M-B-I-E-S), Gina Gershon (Bound), comedian Tim Dillon (who was in a TV show called Thanksgiving), Gabriel Davenport (Mistletoe Time Machine), Tomaso Sanelli (Titans), and Jenna Warren (The Young Arsonists).
Are you glad to hear that Nell Verlaque and Rick Hoffman are coming back for Thanksgiving 2? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
