Sarah Michelle Gellar

Though it has been known for a while that a sequel to The Grudge was coming, in fact, filming starts next month for a planned October 20 release date, which sounds like it’s cutting things awfully close. Tied to the project from the beginning have been writer Stephen Susco and director Takashi Shimizu, both of whom also worked on the first US version (Shimizu actually directed the Japanese original, as well). Not known, however, was who would play the leads; indeed, as late as last week, the casting process was still ongoing. Now, though, comes word directly from Susco that star Sarah Michelle Gellar will be returning as Karen Davis.

According to Susco, a real plot is in the works, too: "We’ve all been pretty focused on making a sequel that has a strong raison d’etre - a second chapter to an evolving story, instead of a sequel that’s made just because the first one performed well." Well, that’s encouraging, at least - and it will set this movie apart from about 95% of sequels if they can follow through on that idealism.