Zach Cregger will not write Weapons prequel

Zach Cregger terrorized audiences with the malevolent Aunt Gladys in Weapons, but now she’ll have to do it on her own because he is taking a step back from her titular spin-off movie. 

Cregger will not be directing or writing the self-titled prequel Gladys. The initial idea for this entry arose during the writing process of Weapons. It was an entire sequence that would show the origin of Aunt Gladys.

In an interview with Deadline, Cregger gave a telling update about the current state of the project.

 “Oh, actually, Zach Shields is writing [Gladys],” Cregger said. “I was developing the story with him, but he’s writing it.”

This isn’t a complete departure from this entry as Cregger will be a producer alongside Roy Lee and Miri Yoon from Vertigo Entertainment. The story developed by Cregger and Shields will be used for this movie.

Amy Madigan will return as the nefarious Aunt Gladys. The role won her an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. The success she had was shared by Weapons as a whole, which went on to gross more than $270 million worldwide; a massive hit for Warner Bros. and New Line.

Now Madigan will get the opportunity to dig deeper into Aunt Gladys' character in the prequel that exposes her dark origin front and center.

Warner Bros. has set a theatrical release for Sept. 8, 2028.