Is Shyamalan's Next Movie Split 2 or Unbreakable 2?

SPOILERS ahead! It’s been just a few days sinceSplitemerged victorious with a dominantbox office victorywith just over $40 million, which represents eight times its $5 million budget. Many fans are still talking about the iconic twist that no one saw coming, which also paves the way forM. Night Shyamalan’s next movie that fans have been waiting more than a decade for. Today, bothM. Night ShyamalanandSplitstarJames McAvoydiscussed how that twist came to be, and how it will lead into eitherSplit 2orUnbreakable 2. If you haven’t seenSplityet, there will be HUGE SPOILERS below, so read on at your own risk.

Fans were quite shocked to learn that the entire story told inSplit, which takes place inM. Night Shyamalan’s hometown of Philadelphia, was actually set in the same universe asUnbreakable, with the final scene revealingBruce Willis' surprise cameo as David Dunn. The scene takes place in a diner, where a news report is playing about theSplitcharacter Kevin Wendell Crumb, who plays host to 24 distinct personalities, and has been given the nickname The Horde by the press. When one woman mentions another criminal that had a unique nickname, we see David Dunn telling her she’s referencing Mr. Glass,Samuel L. Jackson’s character fromUnbreakable.M. Night Shyamalanrevealed in an interview yesterday that his next movie will be a follow-up, featuring Kevin Wendell Crumb fromSplit, alongside David Dunn and Mr. Glass fromUnbreakable. So will this new project be calledSplit 2, orUnbreakable 2? During a new interview withEmpire, the filmmaker wouldn’t reveal a title, but suggested that it could be something else different entirely.

“However you want to look at it. Maybe it’s a new format, this movie, this movie and a final movie. I’m writing the outline now. It’s weird. It’s long. It’s the longest outline I’ve ever had. It has so many characters. I hope ifSplitis a success, I’ll have the opportunity to finish the story. I want to finish it, so this is the third one.”

While it may be “the third one,” that makes it trickier to determine a title, especially with characters from two previously-unconnected movies coming together. Perhaps2 Split 2 Unbreakablewould be a viable option, to borrow from Universal’sFast & Furiousfranchise. Jokes aside, Empire also spoke withJames McAvoy, who revealed that when he first read the script, there wasn’t this pre-credits scene at the end of the film withBruce Willis' David Dunn, but there was an allusion toUnbreakable. Here’s what he had to say below.

“When I first read the script, it wasn’t there. There was some weird little allusion to the fact that it might be linked toUnbreakable, but it was so subtle I kinda discounted it. Then on the last day of rehearsals I was like, ‘mate, is this thing linked to that thing?’ It was honestly the most subtle thing you could ever have written. None but the greatest fanboy alive would ever have noticed it. So it went from being a tiny music cue to a whole fullblown scene with a major movie star in it.”

In an interview from yesterday,M. Night Shyamalanrevealed that there were versions of the script whereMr. Glassand David Dunn were still “actively battling” throughout the city, in the background of this story. However, he ultimately cut them from the story because it became too much of a distraction. Now that this showdown betweenBruce Willis' David Dunn andJames McAvoy’s Kevin Wendell Crumb is set, withSamuel L. Jackson’s Mr. Glass also in the mix,James McAvoywas asked if he’s looking forward to squaring off withBruce Willis. Here’s what he had to say, revealing his colorful nickname for the actor.

“When two baldies go to war. My money’s on B-Dog. I hope he lets me call him that.”

It remains to be seen if any of the discarded ideas from theSplitscript find their way into theUnbreakable 2script, or whenM. Night Shyamalanwill start working on the actual script itself. It also remains to be seen if this project will be produced byJason Blum’s Blumhouse and distributed by Universal Pictures, likeSplitand 2015’sThe Visit. All we do know is that the characters fromSplitandUnbreakablewill eventually clash in a City of Brotherly Love showdown that could send fans to the theaters in droves.