2025 is chockful of hotly anticipated releases for horror fans, one of particular note being M3GAN 2.0, the follow-up to Gerard Johnstone's 2022 killer doll hit M3GAN, with Entertainment Weekly bringing a first look today of the mini maniac in all her glory.
Hitting theaters on June 27, 2025, M3GAN 2.0 sees stars Allison Williams and Violet McGraw return, as is Akela Cooper once again on writing duties. James Wan’s Atomic Monster and Jason Blum’s Blumhouse back as producers. Williams will also produce.
Also starring in M3GAN 2.0 are Ahsoka breakout star Ivanna Sakhno, Timm Sharp, Aristotle Athari and Jermaine Clement.
Entertainment Weekly also reveal that Williams is involved as an executive producer on the first M3GAN spinoff movie, SOULM8TE from director Kate Dolan (You Are Not My Mother) and starring Evil Dead Rise‘s Lily Sullivan, billed for release on January 2, 2026.
Plot details for M3GAN 2.0 currently remain under wraps, but speaking with EW, Johnstone revealed more about the relevant influences on the upcoming sequel:
I had actually a different idea for the ending of M3GAN, which would've been interesting but probably not as satisfying,” he says. “The good thing about doing a sequel is I got the chance to expand on that idea into a longer narrative. The idea James had fit really well with that. So, it was just a really good marriage of those two things.
It was really important that the sequel is a response to what people really loved about the first movie, but also this evolving conversation and fear that we're having about how A.I. is changing us and changing our children and changing society,” Johnstone says. “In a way, M3GAN is a personification of all of those fears.” He declines to get into further specifics on M3GAN 2.0, but notes, “It is very ambitious. I felt that the story should be bigger and increase in scale and scope, but it's still a minuscule budget [compared to] the Marvel movie scale.”
In case you missed M3GAN and her iconic viral dance, the film followed toy-company roboticist Gemma (Williams) who develops a life-like artificially intelligent doll (who also happens to be a FANGORIA cover girl) to help her recently orphaned 8-year-old niece Cady (McGraw) manage her grief with a brand new friend. The film was a huge success, racking up $181 million worldwide off its $12 million budget.
For more on M3GAn 2.0 head over to EW for the full interview with Johnstone and Williams, and check out the first two images below courtesy of EW:
