Lin Shaye Has Several More Ideas to Share for Future Insidious Sequels

The actress says she can develop "some nice stories" to further her character Elise's story in the Insidious franchise.

Audiences will see the final Lambert family chapter when Insidious: The Red Door premieres this Friday. The fifth installment in the Insidious film franchise, The Red Door serves as a sequel to the second film and is set ten years after. Along with the Lamberts, portrayed by Patrick Wilson, Ty Simpkins, Rose Byrne, and Andrew Astor, Lin Shaye returns as psychic Elise Rainier. Shaye has been a fixture in the film series, appearing in all chapters. As audiences may recall, Elise has been connected to Josh (Wilson) since childhood, and was contacted by his mother to assist with the Bride in Black, who was intent on killing and possessing Josh. Although Elise is killed by the Bride in Black during the first film, she returned for the second film as a spirit inhabiting The Further.

The next two films, Insidious: Chapter 3 and Insidious: The Last Key, served as prequels, and provided more insight into Elise's experiences with the paranormal. Although the Lamberts' storyline will conclude with The Red Door, Shaye tells ScreenRant that she has ideas to continue Elise's story and mentions a possible collaborator for getting together a lookbook.

"Yeah, I have some ideas, I've thought about doing a little treatment with some thoughts I have about where she is in The Further, what she could be doing in The Further. It opens up your own imagination, and because The Further is not defined at all, except for there being fog on the floor, it's sort of all we know for sure. [Laughs] So, I definitely have some thoughts that I really may put into action and do a lookbook or something with my son, we've talked about that. He's a very savvy writer and creator. I wouldn't do anything, obviously, without approval of any kind, but in terms of my own imagination, there's some nice stories I can come up with."

Lin Shaye Would Like to See More Characters in The Further

Besides Elise, there's another character that Shaye believes has a tale worth exploring. During Insidious: The Last Key, audiences were introduced to Elise's niece, Imogen (who is portrayed by Caitlin Gerard), who shares some of her aunt's abilities.

"I mean, that was something that always — it didn't bother me, but I always wondered why they ended it like that if they weren't going to continue on some other road with those same characters. I have no idea, it's been a finicky franchise in that way where they've set up other characters that have come through different installments that we never see again, or that storyline never goes further, so — pardon the expression — maybe we'll all end up in The Further. [Laughs] It's possible, we've really created a true universe of people, so it's sort of open-ended, totally, which is a beautiful way to create," Shaye says.

A return to The Further is not far-fetched. An Insidious spinoff, titled Thread, is already being discussed by creator James Wan. Wan says the film will take inspiration from another of his horror universes, The Conjuring, and that Thread "kind of takes off from the world of The Further." Although details surrounding the film are limited, it's reported that Kumail Nanjiani and Mandy Moore will star.

Although Shaye has become best known in recent years for her work in the Insidious film franchise, the scream queen's ties to horror date back to the 1980s. In 1982, Shaye appeared in the slasher Alone in the Dark, marking her horror debut. Throughout the 1980s, she continued her work in the genre, appearing in films like A Nightmare on Elm Street, Critters and its sequel Critters 2: The Main Course. In 1994, she appeared in Wes Craven's New Nightmare. Throughout the 2000s, Shaye has appeared in films including Dead End, 2001 Maniacs, Ouija and the prequel Ouija: Origin of Evil, Room for Rent, and 2020's The Grudge. Shaye also stars in the upcoming Scared to Death about a group of filmmakers who attend a séance at an abandoned children's orphanage to do research for a movie.