3 New Fear Street Movies Are In Development, Says Goosebumps Author R.L. Stine

Following the success of the original trilogy of movies, R.L. Stine says the Fear Street franchise’s future is looking bright. Based on Stine’s young adult horror series of the same name, the original trilogy of movies centered on a group of teens in the small town of Shadyside who inadvertently become the target of a curse that has plagued the city for centuries, with each movie being set in a different era. Originally set at Fox before Disney’s acquisition of them, the Fear Street trilogy earned widespread acclaim after jumping to Netflix, with a fourth movie entering development in late 2023.

During an interview with The Hollywood Reporter to discuss the upcoming release of Goosebumps: The Vanishing, the second season of the Disney+ show based on his other iconic horror book franchise, Stine was asked about the Fear Street movie series. The author revealed that there are in fact three new Fear Street movies on the way, saying that “the writers are working” on the next installments, and that he’s “got my fingers crossed” for them to be greenlit at Netflix.

What This Means For The Fear Street Franchise

Netflix May Look To Recreate The Original Trilogy’s Success

While Stine had previously indicated that the streamer was already eyeing future installments beyond the confirmed fourth movie, the reveal of three new Fear Street movies may point towards the studio’s plans for the franchise’s future. The first three were all filmed back-to-back and set to release sequentially in June 2020 before the COVID-19 pandemic and Disney’s shifting plans led to its Netflix premiere. This did, however, allow the streamer to release all three movies one week after another beginning on July 2, leaving audiences on two major cliffhangers for only a week at a time.

Though it’s still entirely possible the platform could be developing three independent installments, it’s not entirely out of the realm of possibility they’d want to get back to the original trilogy’s release plan for the three new movies. It’s currently unclear how the upcoming Fear Street: Prom Queen will tie into the previous movies, though with its setting of 1988, that would put it prior to the “present day” storyline of the trilogy in 1994. Given Part Three: 1666‘s credits scene saw a mysterious person take The Widow’s satanic spellbook, having another back-to-back trilogy can bring the movies to the modern day, expanding on that cliffhanger.

The other reason why Netflix may feel confident enough to move forward with three new Fear Street movies already is that they’re currently gearing up for Stranger Things season 5, which will conclude their hit show. Beyond just its period setting, the show and Stine-based franchise share teen and horror demographics. While both a live-action and an animated Stranger Things spinoff have been in the works for some time, the Fear Street franchise can fill the void left by the Duffer Brothers’ franchise.

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Source: THR