"What if Marvel was real?" - Check out these exclusive images from M. Night Shyamalan's Glass

Samuel L. Jackson, James McAvoy and Bruce Willis in Glass
(Image credit: Disney)

Unbreakable built a steadily growing cult following in the years following its 2000 release, and fans who desperately wanted a sequel didn’t even realise they were getting one until the final sting in 2016’s Split revealed that James McAvoy’s Kevin Wendell Crumb existed in the same universe as Bruce Willis’s David Dunn. It’s the crossover you never knew you needed.

It was also the ultimate Shyamalan twist, and it set the ball rolling for a trilogy closer that would bring the films together, and audiences are in on the fun this time. Glass – named for Samuel L. Jackson’s fragile-boned Elijah Price, aka Mr Glass – puts Dunn’s superstrong security guard on a collision course with Jackson and McAvoy’s supervillains. Just don’t go expecting an Avengers-style showdown, as Glass promises something more cerebral, contained, and altogether unexpected.

You can see Jackson, Willis, and McAvoy in the upcoming threequel in these exclusive images, courtesy of our sister publication Total Film magazine. The three characters will find themselves in an institute where they’ll be studied by Dr. Ellie Staple (Sarah Paulson), a psychiatrist whose speciality is the ‘growing field’ of a very specific delusion of grandeur: people who believe they are superheroes. Take a look at the exclusive images for yourself below…

Samuel L. Jackson as Elijah Price in Glass

(Image credit: Disney)

Bruce Willis as David Dunn in Glass

(Image credit: Disney)

James McAvoy as a Kevin Wendell Crumb in Glass

(Image credit: Disney)

Given that Unbreakable and Split were distributed by Disney and Universal respectively, it was always a gamble as to whether Shyamalan would be able to get all the pieces in place to be able to complete his trilogy, but thankfully it all came together.

Shyamalan says the whole premise of the movie is ‘What if Marvel was real?’ and there’s also a reason why this film is named after Jackson’s character. “The first one is the origin story of David, and the next one is the origin story of Kevin," Shyamalan tells Total Film. "This one, to some extent, is focused on Mr. Glass, and: what does this mean for Elijah and his belief system?”

Glass opens in the US and the UK on January 18, 2019 and you can read more about it in the new issue of Total Film magazine when it hits shelves this Friday, November 16, 2018. As well as more from Shyamalan, Jackson, Willis, and McAvoy, you’ll also find the latest on Creed 2, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Bumblebee, Beautiful Boy, How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World and interviews with Joel Edgerton, John C. Reilly, Steve Coogan, John Carpenter, and much more. This issue also comes with a supplement on the 50 Greatest Superhero Movies (not available with digital and compact editions).

And if you’re a fan of the mag, why not subscribe so that you never miss an issue? If you sign up, My Favourite Magazines will deliver every new issue through your letterbox before it hits shelves, and you’ll save money on the cover price.

(Image credit: Disney/Total Film)
Matt Maytum
Editor, Total Film

I'm the Editor at Total Film magazine, overseeing the running of the mag, and generally obsessing over all things Nolan, Kubrick and Pixar. Over the past decade I've worked in various roles for TF online and in print, including at 12DOVE, and you can often hear me nattering on the Inside Total Film podcast. Bucket-list-ticking career highlights have included reporting from the set of Tenet and Avengers: Infinity War, as well as covering Comic-Con, TIFF and the Sundance Film Festival.