Liv Tyler’s Planned Cameo In The Strangers 2 (& Why She Didn’t Return)

Liv Tyler was set to make a cameo appearance in the original script, but here’s why she didn’t return for The Strangers: Prey At Night. The original Strangers was a simple but seriously eerie horror movie where couple Kristen (Liv Tyler) and James (Scott Speedman) are stalked by three masked killers. The movie’s slow-burning tension and haunting ending saw it became a surprise success back in 2008. Writer/director Bryan Bertino was thus hired to pen a Strangers sequel, which came to nothing after a few years in development.

Nearly a decade later Johannes Roberts eventually came onboard to direct, and The Strangers 2018 sequel Prey At Night featured a family of four being stalked by the title killers – dubbed Pinup (Lea Enslin), Dollface (Emma Bellomy) and Man in the Mask (Damian Maffei) – who return for another night of terror. The sequel featured a change in tone from the relatively grounded original, with the follow-up being more in line with a 1980s slasher. It also featured numerous homages to the work of John Carpenter, from the synth-heavy score to nods to Christine.

The Strangers: Prey At Night cast Bailee Madison as troubled teen Kinsey and Lewis Pullman as her older brother Luke, who face the brunt of the movie’s stalking shenanigans. The sequel was a success but received mixed reactions; some loved its retro feel while others hated how much it departed from the original. One question it doesn’t answer is the fate of Liv Tyler’s Kristen, who was left for dead after being viciously stabbed in the original movie’s finale but was revealed to still be alive before the credits roll.

While The Strangers: Prey At Night used the concept of Bryan Bertino’s original Strangers 2 script, it was rewritten when Johannes Roberts came onboard. It also lacks Bertino’s planned opening scene, which would have picked up moments after the final scene of The Strangers with Tyler’s Kristine, only for the character to be quickly killed off. The story then would have shifted to the family being stalked in a trailer park.

Liv Tyler was up for reprising her role when The Strangers 2 was in development, but freely admitted it wasn’t her movie. It doesn’t seem like Tyler was approached to return once The Strangers: Prey At Night went into production, however, with Roberts wanting to distance the sequel from the original somewhat. There was also the fact that nearly a decade had passed since the original, which would have made it tricky to for Tyler’s cameo to pick up mere moments after The Strangers.

There doesn’t seem to be any plans for The Stranger 3 currently, with The Strangers: Prey At Night ending with the apparent deaths of all three of the title characters – though the final scene hints one may have survived. There was an alternate ending shot that featured the return of the Man in the Mask which wasn’t used, but given the injuries he suffered in the finale, this may have stretched credibility to breaking point.

About The Author

Padraig Cotter
(3484 Articles Published)

It’s pronounced Paw-rick, not Pad-raig. Now that’s out of the way, a brief introduction. Padraig has been writing about film online since 2012, when a friend asked if he’d like to contribute the occasional review or feature to their site.

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A part-time hobby soon blossomed into a career when he discovered he really loved writing about movies, TV and video games – he even (arguably) had a little bit of talent for it. He has written words for Den of Geek, Collider, The Irish Times and Screen Rant over the years, and can discuss anything from the MCU – where Hawkeye is clearly the best character – to the most obscure cult b-movie gem, and his hot takes often require heat resistant gloves to handle.

He’s super modern too, so his favorite movies include Jaws, Die Hard, The Thing, Ghostbusters and Batman. He can be found as i_Padds on Twitter making bad puns.

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