New Leprechaun Movie Enlists Saw Writers at Lionsgate

The Leprechaun is coming back for his gold. Lionsgate is developing a new Leprechaun movie with Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan writing the screenplay, according to Deadline. The pair should be familiar to horror fans after writing Saw IV, Saw V, Saw VI, Saw 3D, The Collector, and Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark.

For now, the plot is being kept under wraps. There is also no director, cast, or release date, which leaves the biggest question unanswered: who is going to play the Leprechaun?

Lionsgate Is Taking Another Shot at Leprechaun

This is not the same project Lionsgate had been developing over the last few years. Felipe Vargas was previously attached to direct from a screenplay by Mike Van Waes, but Deadline reports that the studio is now taking another swing at the franchise with Melton and Dunstan.

Oren Koules and Miles Koules will produce through Koulest Productions, with Dan Heffner and Ketura Kestin executive producing. Koules has a long history with both Lionsgate and the new writers after producing the Saw franchise, where Melton and Dunstan wrote four installments

Koules told Deadline he is excited to return to Lionsgate with Melton, Dunstan, and his son Miles for what he described as a new way into the world of Leprechaun. Exactly what that means remains a mystery. There is no indication yet whether this movie will connect to an earlier entry or start over again.

Leprechaun Has Been Gone Since 2018

The franchise began in 1993 with Warwick Davis as the murderous creature protecting his pot of gold and Jennifer Aniston in one of her earliest film roles. Davis returned for five sequels before the series eventually moved on without him.

The most recent movie was Leprechaun Returns in 2018, which ignored most of the sequels and continued directly from the original. Linden Porco played the Leprechaun in that film.

That makes this the first new Leprechaun movie in eight years, but the bigger question is not simply how Lionsgate brings him back. It is whether the new movie understands why something this ridiculous worked in the first place.

What We Think

Leprechaun has a strange but important place in the history of The Fear Review.

Years ago, I watched the original movie with my niece, Jenny, on Easter. She fell in love with horror, and that turned into horror movie days and franchise marathons. We both loved Leprechaun and vowed to watch it every Easter.

Those movie days eventually became the idea for a podcast. Jenny and I recorded seven episodes together before she moved on, and that original version eventually became The Fear Review that Amy and I are doing today. There is a direct line from watching Leprechaun on Easter to the site you are reading right now.

Amy and I even got to meet Warwick Davis at Texas Frightmare last year, which gave the franchise another personal connection for us.

None of that means nostalgia alone is enough reason to make another one. The movies work because they understand how ridiculous they are. Warwick Davis could make the Leprechaun funny, nasty, threatening, and completely absurd, sometimes within the same scene. Any new version needs to keep that personality instead of turning him into another generic horror villain.

Melton and Dunstan make this attempt more interesting. Their history with Saw and The Collector suggests Lionsgate may be willing to get nasty with it.

Just don’t forget to make it fun.

Source: Deadline.