Halloween Kills finally opened in theaters this Friday, delivering a horror experience die-hard fans of the genre cannot miss. As well as picking up where the 2018 reboot left off, the sequel brings back various faces from the original — and still the best — 1978 movie. Namely, Kyle Richards as Lindsey Wallace, Nancy Stephens as Marion Chambers, and Charles Cypher as ex-Sheriff Brackett. Another familiar name also appears: Tommy Doyle. But this time it’s with a new face as Anthony Michael Hall takes on the role in the film.
This makes Hall the third actor to play Tommy, who was initially portrayed as a child by Brian Andrews in 1978 and then as a young man by none other than a pre-fame Paul Rudd in 1995’s The Curse of Michael Myers. Producers tried to get Rudd to reprise his role in Kills, but unfortunately, the Ant-Man star was too busy making Ghostbusters: Afterlife to do it. He did, however, give Hall his blessing to replace him.
Fans were a little bummed that Rudd couldn’t return for the new movie, then, but producer Malek Akkad thinks things turned out for the best. While speaking with ScreenRant, Akkad explained that he suspects Rudd’s colossal fame these days might’ve distracted people from the character he was playing. He also praised Hall’s “knockout performance.”
“It would have warmed my heart and definitely there’s some disappointment there,” Akkad shared. “But I ultimately think that Anthony Michael Hall fulfills this role in a way that’s maybe less jarring for the narrative and maybe won’t take people out of it. Because Paul Rudd is so big for a lot of things like comedy and whatever, he’s a fantastic actor, I think it turned out this way for a reason and we’re so excited. Anthony Michael Hall does a knockout performance, it’s definitely gonna be one of the fans’ favorites.”
Another reason why it probably makes sense for Hall to take over as Tommy is that Rudd’s version hails from a different timeline within the franchise. Danielle Harris, for instance, was Laurie’s daughter Jamie in Halloween 4 and 5, while Judy Greer now plays her daughter Karen in the rebooted timeline, in which Jamie never existed. Having Rudd return might’ve confused the canon even more than it already is.
Halloween Kills is in theaters around the world from today.