Madelaine Petsch is gearing up for one final, brutal showdown in The Strangers – Chapter 3. The third and final trilogy installment was directed by genre veteran Renny Harlin and written by Alan R. Cohen and Alan Freedland, and is set to follow Maya as she tries to escape Venus County on foot, no longer trusting the town after everything that happened in The Strangers — Chapters 1 and 2.
The film stars Petsch, Gabriel Basso as Gregory, Ema Horvath as Shelly, and Richard Brake as Sheriff Rotterand. Distributed by Lionsgate, ScreenRant has obtained an exclusive new image from The Strangers – Chapter 3, featuring Petsch as a frazzled Maya, covered in blood, and gripping a shotgun.
Check out this new image from The Strangers – Chapter 3 below:
The Strangers – Chapter 3 is the fifth installment in The Strangers franchise overall, serving as the conclusion to the trilogy launched with Chapter 1 and Chapter 2. Like the earlier entries, the new films are inspired by Bryan Bertino’s 2008 acclaimed psychological horror-thriller, The Strangers. The rebooted trilogy has leaned heavily into that iconography, bringing back the original killers.
Harlin directed Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 as well, and his involvement stands out as a key element of the new Strangers trilogy. A longtime genre staple, Harlin is known for helming high-profile thrillers and horror films like A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master, Deep Blue Sea, and The Long Kiss Goodnight.
The Strangers – Chapter 3 teaser shows the Strangers continuing to torment various victims while also teasing that someone new, seemingly Maya, is stepping into the Pin-Up Girl role. In the first two entries in the new trilogy, Petsch’s Maya survives a nightmarish home invasion at the hands of three masked killers, Dollface, Pin-Up Girl, and Man in the Mask, who, like in the previous films, struck without motive.
However, the new trilogy has struggled critically, with 2024’s Chapter 1 holding a 21% score on Rotten Tomatoes, while Chapter 2 has a lower score of 15%, based on 74 reviews. Critics have called out the poor characterization, repetitive plot, and overreliance on the iconography of the original franchise, lacking the tension and focus that made the 2008 original an acclaimed success.
As the trilogy’s conclusion, the upcoming film appears to attempt to course-correct by pushing the franchise into darker psychological territory while delivering a more aggressive and confrontational finale. Whether The Strangers – Chapter 3 can redeem the trilogy’s negative reception remains to be seen, but it is clear that the final chapter is aiming to end the story on its most intense and violent note yet.
The Strangers – Chapter 3 is set to premiere on February 6, 2026.
- Release Date
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February 6, 2026
- Runtime
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135 Minutes
- Director
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Renny Harlin
Cast
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Richard Brake
Sheriff Rotter
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