‘Halloween’ Reboot Hints at a Dark Evolution for Jamie Lee Curtis’ Laurie Strode
The Halloween franchise is no stranger to alternate endings, deleted scenes, and behind-the-scenes rewrites that change the course of the story. Halloween Ends (2022), the final chapter in director David Gordon Green’s trilogy, was met with divisive reactions—especially when it came to the film’s ending.
But as it turns out, the tie-in novelization, “Halloween Ends,” by Paul Brad Logan, delivers a completely different final moment, one that radically shifts Laurie Strode’s fate in an eerie and unsettling way.
In the film, Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) finally defeats Michael Myers, bringing an entire town together for a brutal and definitive execution. Haddonfield’s residents watch as Myers’ body is shredded in an industrial grinder, seemingly putting an end to his decades-long reign of terror.
The film ends on a surprisingly hopeful note, with Laurie rekindling a quiet romance with Officer Frank Hawkins (Will Patton) and seemingly moving on with her life. However, the novelization offers something much darker.
Instead of the warm and open-ended farewell seen in the movie, the book takes a more ominous route. Laurie is described as being consumed by an unsettling presence after everything she has endured. Frank Hawkins, instead of being warmly welcomed, is shut out when he arrives at her home.
“Laurie sat at her computer, bathed in the afternoon light,” the novel reads. “A light that did little to soften the dark look behind her eyes.”
But the most chilling part comes when Laurie takes out the infamous mask of Michael Myers and begins to study it—almost as if she feels drawn to it.
“She ran her finger across the latex. She felt its age in the rippled skin. She felt its pull.”
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The novel’s last lines suggest a horrifying transformation.
As Hawkins watches her through the window, he feels a familiar chill, one he’s only ever felt in the presence of Michael. Inside the house, Laurie’s breathing echoes in every room. The Shape—a title often used to describe Michael—now belongs to someone new.
This subtle but chilling ending hints at a possibility Halloween fans have speculated about for decades: could Laurie Strode herself become the next Michael Myers?
Throughout the franchise, there have been suggestions of the “curse” being passed down. Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988) famously ended with young Jamie Lloyd (Danielle Harris) appearing to inherit her uncle’s evil, while Rob Zombie’s Halloween II (2009) teased Laurie’s descent into madness.
While Halloween Ends drew mixed reactions, its novelization gives fans a vastly different experience—one that replaces closure with an eerie sense of unfinished business. The Halloween franchise has always played with the idea that evil never truly dies. This ending makes sure that, one way or another, the Shape always finds a way to return.
Have you read “Halloween Ends”? Let us know in the comments down below!
