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Fear Street trilogy director Leigh Janiak is keen to expand the Netflix franchise, MCU style.
"One of the exciting things about Fear Street is the fact that the universe is big and allows for a lot of space," Janiak told IndieWire. "One of the things that I talked about before I was hired was that we have a potential here to create a horror Marvel [Cinematic Universe], where you can have slasher killers from lots of different eras. You have the canon of our main mythology that's built around the fact that the devil lives in Shadyside, so there's also room for everything else."
The trilogy, based on R.L. Stine's series of the same name, focuses on the cursed town of Shadyside. The franchise spans centuries – with a movie set in 1994, 1978, and 1666 respectively – and bears resemblance to iconic horror movies like Scream and the Friday the 13th franchise.
While the trilogy closed off the main storyline and revealed the truth about Shadyside and the neighboring Sunnyvale, a post-credits scene tantalizingly left the door open for more terrifying antics when a mystery character is seen stealing the book that can summon the Devil.
"I think that my hope is that audiences like it enough that we can start building out [more], we can think about what another trilogy would be, what stand-alones would be, what TV would be," Janiak added. "I don't even think about it like TV or movies exactly anymore. That's the great thing about Netflix and about what Fear Street is, which is kind of a hybrid new thing. I'm excited about the possibility of what else can happen."
Janiak also talked about what she wants to see in the future. "I really started getting excited about a '50s slasher movie, which I haven't really seen and what that means," she commented. "It's just cool to think about the different eras and what's possible as a horror fan."
It remains to be seen if Fear Street will be expanded into a franchise on the streamer, though it certainly seems a strong possibility from Janiak's comments. The trilogy has been well received, though Netflix has yet to release its viewing figures for the movies.
All three Fear Street films are streaming on Netflix now. If you're call caught up – and are in the mood for more scares – check out our roundup of the best horror movies of all time.
