Before we start – this news will spoil Split. If we’re cool with doing that, or if you’ve seen it already, let’s continue… One of the biggest kept secrets of last year was the final scene in M. Night Shyamalan’s multiple-personality kidnapping thriller Split. Yes, a couple of the movie sites saw it early and each claimed an ‘exclusive’ on the news that it was a semi-sequel to the director’s superlative 2000 film Unbreakable.

Throughout the film there was absolutely no hint that the film existed in the same universe as the one which held Bruce Willis’ David Dunn and Samuel L. Jackson’s Mr. Glass. When the final scene played out, in its calm and understated manner, jaws dropped as audiences realised they were watching a sequel people had nbeen clamouring for since the turn of the century.

The success of Split, thanks in great part to the sterling performance of Anya Taylor-Joy and a thrilling turn by James McAvoy, made it a certainty that Shyamalan would look to return to the comic book world he created seventeen years ago. Today, he confirmed it was happening.*

Here’s how the director broke the news.

Fans of the director have been calling for a sequel to Unbreakable for years. The film built greatly on Shyamalan’s stock following The Sixth Sense and remains his best film. The intricately plotted, ultra realistic take on the superhero genre prefigured the ‘dark, gritty’ comic book movies so in vogue with the likes of Christopher Nolan and Zack Snyder.

The ending of Unbreakable (now, even more so, worth a re-watch) begged for a sequel, set in the most fascinating cinematic world the director has created. Now, with Glass arriving in 2019, we’ll get to go back. We cannot wait.

*Not The Happening, which was an appalling affair.

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