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Blumhouse and Universal are wasting precisely no time in getting the M3GAN cinematic universe off the ground. Last year’s horror flick from director Gerard Johnstone proved to be one of the biggest original hits of the year. Not only is a sequel on the way, but we have the recently announced spin-off titled SOULM8TE in the works as well. Now we have word that Lily Sullivan, known best for her work in Evil Dead Rise, has boarded the cast of said spin-off.
According to a press release, Sullivan has been cast in the lead role in the film. Kate Dolan (You Are Not My Mother) is in the director’s chair. Dolan also rewrote the screenplay, working from an original draft from Rafael Jordan (Salvage Marines). Modern horror master James Wan and Ingrid Bisu cooked up the story alongside Jordan. The film is said to be in the tradition of the ’90s domestic thrillers but with a modern, technological twist. As for the story at hand? The synopsis reads as follows:
“In SOULM8TE, a man acquires an Artificially Intelligent android to cope with the loss of his recently deceased wife. In an attempt to create a truly sentient partner, he inadvertently turns a harmless lovebot into a deadly soulmate.”
Sullivan is said to be playing “the gorgeous, artificially intelligent android” at the center of the tale. There is no word yet on how soon production could begin. Filming recently got underway on M3GAN 2.0, which is set to arrive on June 27, 2025. Whether or not Blumhouse decides to have them both going at the same time, or to get the sequel in the can before moving onto the spin-off remains to be seen. Either way, they are full-steam ahead on turning this into a full-fledged franchise.
It’s not hard to see why. M3GAN pulled in a downright shocking $180 million worldwide last year against a relatively tiny $12 million budget. In many ways, it was an example of the Blumhouse business model firing on all cylinders. Studios are often quick to give such hits a sequel. Granting a spin-off so early on in the process is far more rare. In this case, it feels warranted.
As for Sullivan, this keeps her in the horror genre, which is quickly becoming a comfort zone for the actress, it seems. Aside from Evil Dead Rise, she also headlined the criminally underseen Monolith, which was unceremoniously dropped on VOD earlier this year. Some of her other credits include Picnic at Hanging Rock and Jungle.
SOULM8TE is currently set to hit theaters on January 2, 2026. For more, check out our list of characters we’d love to see M3GAN go toe-to-toe with.
