With Halloween Kills slated for release this year, many people are excited to see the return of some of the series’ most memorable characters. Returning are not only longtime heroine Laurie Strode, but also Sherriff Leigh Brackett, Nurse Marion Cambers, and of course, Tommy Doyle and Lindsay Wallace, the two children Laurie worked so hard to protect in the original film. With the return of these characters, many are wondering if all of them will survive to the end. My advice to fans is to brace yourselves, as a horrific fate may await Tommy Doyle, and we may have glimpsed it in the trailer.
History of Tommy Doyle
Tommy Doyle’s involvement in the series has been an interesting journey. In the original 1978 film, Doyle was played by child actor Brian Andrews. Tommy was one of the most essential characters in the original, acting similar to a canary in a mineshaft. Whenever there was danger nearby, Tommy always recognized it before the older characters. Whenever Tommy sees the Shape wandering the streets, he attempts to alert Laurie to the danger, but his warnings go unheeded as the killer picks off the cast one by one. It’s not until the Shape reveals itself in the finale that he is finally taken seriously.
Tommy appeared sporadically in the series after that. Following a brief appearance in Halloween II, Tommy was originally slated as the lead for an early script of Halloween IV, which saw him and a teenage Lindsay battling the Shape. After this concept was scrapped, Tommy wouldn’t appear again until the ill-fated Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers, where he was notably played by future superstar Paul Rudd. Tommy’s only appearance after this was in the Rob Zombie remake of the original film, making the 2007 film the character’s final screen appearance to date. Halloween Kills will mark the first time the character has been seen in fourteen years. So what will Tommy’s role in Halloween Kills be, and could it be his final appearance in the series?
The Return of Tommy Doyle
With his return to Halloween, producers wondered just who could play the iconic character. When Rudd was unavailable due to commitments to Marvel, producers approached Anthony Michael Hall, who as a teenager appeared in such classics as Pretty In Pink, Weird Science, and The Breakfast Club. Halloween Kills finds Tommy, now in his early 50s, forced to confront the boogeyman who terrorized him as a child, arming himself with a baseball bat and taking to the streets with a baseball bat to hunt down The Shape.
This baseball bat proves to be a crucial clue, as so far few images exist of Tommy without the bat in his possession. This of course becomes unsettling when considering a later clip in the trailer that appears to show Michael Myers beating someone to death with a blunt object, accompanied by a slow-motion spray of blood.
Could it be the person in this clip is Tommy Doyle meeting a grisly end after his weapon is taken away from him? At first glance, it seems so, but there are some clues that say this may not necessarily be the case.
An earlier frame shows the person is wearing what appears to be a red scarf, which Tommy isn’t wearing in the above shown still of the character. Also, the character appears to have more hair than Tommy with his buzz cut. The character also appears to be wearing glasses. However, he and Doyle are wearing what appear to be similar dark-colored jackets, which could be anything from a police officer’s uniform to casual wear like Tommy’s. For fans of the character, there is cause for concern. Tommy so far hasn’t been given much visibility in the upcoming film, and since we’ve seen so little of him, one can’t help but feel nervous. Brian Cranston unexpectedly lost his life in the first act of the 2014 Godzilla. Could a similar fate befall Tommy? Is this image of Michael beating someone to death with a bat? Is it not a bat but arterial spray from a knife slitting this character’s throat? Time will tell.
By its very nature, the slasher genre has a high mortality rate for its characters, both beloved and otherwise. There are a large number of these characters returning for Halloween Kills who have been with the series since the beginning. No less than four of Laurie’s fellow survivors will make their return to Halloween Kills. To fans, my advice would be to get a tissue handy. Some of them may not be around for Halloween Ends.
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