Thomasin McKenzie Leads Rule of Three, Kick-Starting a New Horror Trilogy

Thomasin McKenzie is not taking a breather. Fresh off wrapping the psychological horror thriller 'Victorian Psycho', she has already jumped straight into another one: 'Rule of Three' — a new horror feature designed to kick off a trilogy.

The setup

The story centers on Amy (Chloe East), who believes her family is stuck in a brutal pattern: every three years, someone dies in a grisly, unexplained way. It has been almost three years since her parents were killed, which makes her think the clock is about to strike on her. With help from her best friend Lizzy (McKenzie), Amy tries to outsmart whatever is coming and break the cycle before it takes her next. Whether fate is negotiable — that is the movie.

Who is making this thing

• Cast: Thomasin McKenzie ('Old', 'Last Night in Soho'), Chloe East ('Heretic'), Jimmi Simpson ('Westworld'), Sutton Foster ('Younger'), Tom Everett Scott ('That Thing You Do!'), Bilal Hasna ('Layla'). East plays Amy; McKenzie plays Amy's best friend Lizzy.
• Director: James Roday Rodriguez (he previously directed 'Gravy').
• Writers: James Roday Rodriguez and Todd Harthan.
• Based on: The novel by Sam Ripley.
• Producers: Marty Bowen, Wyck Godfrey, and Isaac Klausner for Temple Hill Entertainment (the company behind 'Smile', 'Smile 2', 'The Twilight Saga', and the 'Maze Runner' trilogy). Adrián Guerra and Núria Valls are producing for Nostromo Pictures ('Red Lights', 'Apocalypse Z: The Beginning of the End').
• Executive producers: Hal Sadoff and Ben Levine. From Protagonist (handling sales/financing alongside production), Dave Bishop, James Pugh, and George Hamilton are also onboard as executive producers, collaborating with Rodriguez and Harthan's banner Taft Tennis.

Production status and a little industry context

Cameras are rolling now. Protagonist's CCO George Hamilton says this marks their fourth movie teaming with Temple Hill, which tells you these companies like working together on bigger, mainstream-leaning genre plays.

As we kick off production on our fourth feature together, we are incredibly fortunate to be joining forces once again with Temple Hill on this daring and bold psychological horror. We are thrilled to have world-class international partners on board to introduce the first chapter of what will be a fun, smart but unsettling story for audiences worldwide.

The producing team is clearly going for a combo of scares and feels — they are framing it as both terrifying and emotionally heavy, with the friendship at the center meant to carry the punch. Given Temple Hill's track record with crowd-pleasing horror and Rodriguez's taste for dark, nervy material, the promise of a trilogy makes sense. If chapter one lands, there is obvious runway for the curse to keep ticking every three years — which is a clever built-in clock.