Halloween Movies: How Old Laurie Strode Is In Every Timeline

Laurie Strode is the original protagonist of the Halloween franchise, and she was a different age in each of the movies she starred in—across several different movie timelines, this can get confusing. Laurie first appeared in John Carpenter’s original Halloween in 1978, 1981’s Halloween II, 1998’s Halloween H20: Twenty Years Later, 2002’s Halloween: Resurrection, and 2018’s Halloween. She also appeared in the 2007 Rob Zombie remake of Halloween, as well as its 2009 sequel.

Laurie’s history and age both become complicated to look at because the Halloween franchise has several conflicting continuities. Halloween H20, for one,ignored the events of Halloween 4, 5, and 6; Zombie’s remake completely rebooted the story separately. 2018’s installment retconned everything except for the original 1978 movie, serving as a direct sequel 40 years later.

Actress Jamie Lee Curtis played the part of Laurie Strode in every installment aside from Zombie’s remakes, where Scout Taylor-Compton took on a different version of the role. Horror movie fans have come to love Laurie over the years, calling her one of the best “final girls” in the entire horror genre. Throughout the Halloween franchise, Strode is a different age—here’s every age she’s been throughout the Halloween movie franchise in every existing timeline.

Halloween

John Carpenter’s 1978 Halloween introduced the character of Laurie Strode, a 17-year-old high school student who was played by Curtis in her film debut. At the time of filming, Curtis was around 20 years old. The original movie details Laurie’s life in the fictional town of Haddonfield, Illinois on Halloween.

Laurie notices a masked man—who she eventually learns is Michael Myers—watching her from various locations. He eventually stalks her friends, then escalates to attacking and killing them. Michael eventually comes for Laurie, who is babysitting Tommy Doyle and Lindsey Wallace at the time. She fends him off, saving the kids. In Halloween‘s iconic ending, Dr. Sam Loomis appears, shooting him off the balcony. Moments later, the movie’s famous finale reveal shows that no body lies on the ground—Michael got away.

Halloween II

Curtis reprised her role as Laurie in the 1981 sequel, Halloween II. The movie picks up directly where the first one left off, so Laurie is still 17 years old. Curtis was 23 years old during filming. In the movie, Laurie is taken to a hospital. Eventually, she learns that Michael Myers is her brother. After he killed their parents, she was put up for adoption; her tragic records were sealed. Eventually, she forgot what happened, repressing her early childhood memories.

Michael enters the hospital and begins killing the staff members in an attempt to find and kill Laurie, finishing what he started. Laurie eventually faces him and shoots Michael—blinding him—and Loomis causes an explosion to help Laurie escape. In the end, Laurie is transferred to another hospital with the hope Michael died in the explosion.

Halloween H20: Twenty Years Later

The third through fifth installments of the Halloween franchise featured protagonists other than Laurie. In the fourth movie—1988’s Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers—Laurie is only briefly mentioned. It’s revealed that she died in a car accident; her young daughter, Jamie Lloyd (Danielle Harris), becomes Michael’s new intended victim.

Laurie Strode reappears in 1998’s Halloween H20, the seventh movie in the Halloween franchise. This movie ignored the events of the third through fifth installments. Instead, it rebooted the continuity of the franchise, keeping the events of only the first two movies. In H20, it’s revealed that Laurie faked her death as a means of escaping further terrorization by Michael. As H20 takes place 20 years later, Laurie is 37 years old in this movie—Curtis was 40 years old during filming—and lives in California under a new name: Keri Tate. Laurie’s story in this movie is interesting—she has a son, and she struggles with alcoholism due to her past trauma. Michael resurfaces on Halloween and goes after Laurie and her son, but in the end Laurie decapitates him.

Halloween: Resurrection

In 2002’s Halloween: Resurrection, the character of Laurie is 40 years old, as the events take place three years after the previous movie. Halloween: Resurrection reveals that Laurie never actually killed Michael, but instead decapitated a paramedic with whom Michael swapped clothing. Laurie, ridden with guilt, is an inmate at a sanitarium and appears to be catatonic. Really, though, she is mentally preparing for Michael’s return. He falls into a trap she made, but she suddenly becomes scared that she is about to kill the wrong person again. During her moment of hesitation, Michael stabs her and throws her off the roof to her death.

Rob Zombie Installments

In 2007, Rob Zombie released a remake of the original Halloween movie. Scout Taylor-Compton, who was 18 years old during filming, played a 15-year-old Laurie Strode. In this movie, it’s known from the beginning that Laurie is Michael’s younger sister.

In Zombie’s version of the story, Michael kills their older sister, Judith, and their mother commits suicide. As an infant, Laurie is adopted by the Strode family and her records are kept secret—she doesn’t know anything about her past. Years later, Michael returns, killing Laurie’s adoptive parents and friend. He kidnaps Laurie in an attempt to make her remember him. She shoots him in the head at the end of the movie.

In the 2009 Zombie sequel, Laurie is 16 years old, and Taylor-Compton was 20 during filming. In this movie, Laurie moves in with Sheriff Brackett and his daughter, Annie, who were both characters included in Carpenter’s original film. In the movie’s ending, Laurie kills Michael and puts on his mask; she’s then seen sitting in a psychiatric ward. In the director’s cut, she is killed by police gunfire as she walks over to Loomis with a knife. Zombie didn’t make any further Halloween movies following this sequel.

Halloween (2018)

2018’s Halloween continued the original franchise and brought back Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie. The movie retconned every movie except for the original—so the sibling connection between Laurie and Michael never occurred. In this movie, Laurie is 57 years old—40 years after the original.

This movie also expands the Strode family by featuring Laurie’s daughter, Karen (Judy Greer), and granddaughter, Allyson (Andi Matichak). Laurie suffers from PTSD decades after her traumatic Halloween night in 1978. She’s spent her life preparing for Michael to return; her house is full of traps and weapons. She’s also shown to have been divorced twice and has struggled with alcoholism. Of course, Michael returns and terrorizes Laurie and her family. Laurie, Karen, and Allyson fight him off in Laurie’s well-equipped house. She severely injures him and eventually the three women trap him in the basement, then set the house on fire.

Upcoming Installments

Jamie Lee Curtis is signed on to reprise her role as Laurie in the upcoming 2021 and 2022 sequels, which were delayed due to COVID-19, and are titled Halloween Kills and Halloween Ends, respectively. The trailer for the 2021 installment revealed that the movie will pick up where the previous one left off—the same night—so Laurie will be the same age as in Halloween 2018.

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