Ready or Not 2: Here I Come Locks In March Release Date
Horror sequel Ready or Not 2: Here I Come cuts the wait, shifting its release from April to March.
Ready or Not 2 is not just happening, it just jumped up the calendar. And the team behind the original is back in the driver’s seat, which should make a lot of you very happy.
So what changed?
When the sequel was first announced last year, Adam Robitel (Escape Room) was set to direct. That’s no longer the case. Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, the duo behind the first Ready or Not, the last two Scream movies, and the recent 'Dracula’s daughter' romp Abigail, have stepped in to take this one themselves. They haven’t been shy about hyping it up either:
'an absolute banger.'
New date, new showdown
Searchlight originally had Ready or Not 2: Here I Come targeting April 10, 2026. It’s now moving up two weeks to March 27, 2026. That’s a nice little confidence play. It also drops the movie into a head-to-head with New Line’s horror thriller They Will Kill You, produced by Andy Muschietti. We haven’t seen a lick of marketing for that one yet, so don’t be shocked if it blinks.
Quick refresher for the uninitiated
Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett are part of the filmmaking collective-turned-company Radio Silence, which they formed with Justin Martinez and Chad Villella back in 2011. The original Ready or Not was written by Guy Busick and R. Christopher Murphy and followed Samara Weaving’s Grace, whose wedding night with a very rich, very weird family spirals into a deadly tradition. Busick and Murphy also wrote the script for the sequel.
Who’s involved this time
- Directors: Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett (Ready or Not, Scream V/VI, Abigail)
- Writers: Guy Busick and R. Christopher Murphy
- Returning lead: Samara Weaving as Grace
- New cast: Kathryn Newton (worked with the directors on Abigail) as Faith, Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Elijah Wood (Lord of the Rings), Shawn Hatosy (The Faculty), Nestor Carbonell (Lost), Kevin Durand (also from Abigail), and legendary filmmaker David Cronenberg
- Additional cast: Kara Wooten (Revival), Juan Pablo Romero (Please, After You), Varun Saranga (Wynonna Earp), Masa Lizdek (Simulant), Nadeem Umar-Khitab (Wedding Season), Daniel Beirne (Ginny & Georgia), Antony Hall (Run the Burbs), Olivia Cheng (Warrior)
- Release date: March 27, 2026 (moved up from April 10, 2026)
The sequel setup
The movie picks up literally moments after the carnage at the Le Domas mansion. Grace learns the twisted game isn’t over; it’s leveled up. She’s now thrown into an even bigger nightmare alongside her estranged sister Faith (Kathryn Newton), and the stakes have gone from bad in-laws to a shadowy ruling body. The goal: survive the night, keep her sister breathing, and claim the High Seat of the Council that supposedly runs the world. Four rival families are hunting her for control of that throne. Whoever wins, rules it all.
Yes, that is a huge scope jump from 'murderous wedding night' to 'global puppet masters'. If Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett can pull off that escalation with the same mean streak and humor as the first movie, 'absolute banger' might not be overselling it.