Thanksgiving stars Nell Verlaque and Rick Hoffman say their characters will appear in the upcoming sequel – which director Eli Roth is in the process of writing.
"To my knowledge, yes," Verlaque tells 12DOVE when asked if her lead character Jess will go on to star in Thanksgiving 2. "I think that it'll be a continuation of where we last saw her. 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."
In Thanksgiving, a masked killer known as John Carver descends upon Plymouth, Massachusetts, and starts hunting down Jess, her friends, and her family, in order to seek revenge for a fatal Black Friday riot that happened the year prior.
"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," Hoffman says. The Suits actor plays Thomas Wright, Jess's CEO father who made the decision to keep Right Mart open on the night of the Black Friday riot. Despite the tragedy, Thomas insists on keeping it open the following year – and John Carver isn't too happy.
A sequel was greenlit just two weeks after the film's November 17 release, with Roth saying that he and partner Jeff Rendell planned to "take a year off to make a really, really great script" and "make it better than the first one." Some fans have theorized that the first film had two killers instead of one. Verlaque says she hasn't asked Roth about it, but that the second installment could "possibly reveal that," though nothing is confirmed.
Thanksgiving is available to buy at home. The sequel has a 2025 release window. For more, check out our list of the most exciting upcoming movies in 2024 and beyond.
