Evil Dead Rise's Lily Sullivan joins the M3GAN spin-off SOULM8TE as the horror film's lead love bot (2024)

August 9th 2024, 2:46pm

After Blumhouse and Atomic Monster’s M3GAN took audiences (and TikTok) by storm, plans to expand the artificial intelligence-centric horror property are in full swing with the M3GAN spin-off, SOULM8TE, on the way. According to Deadline, Evil Dead Rise actress Lily Sullivan will play the lead in SOULM8TE, a beautiful companion bot trying to help a grieving man cope with the loss of his wife.

In SOULM8TE, Sullivan’s artificial intelligence love bot becomes more when a man inadvertently turns the harmless droid into a deadly soulmate. While SOULM8TE is considered a part of the M3GAN universe, sources close to the project clarify that SOULM8TE is a more mature and risqué horror thriller. The project resembles ’90s domestic thrillers, such as Sleeping with the Enemy, The Hand That Rocks the Cradle, and Dangerous Intentions. SOULM8TE revolves around characters different from those in M3GAN, so don’t expect to see the sinister playtime companion in the new film.

Kate Dolan (You Are Not My Mother) directs SOULM8TE after rewriting Rafael Jordan’s (Salvage Marines) original draft, which was based on a story by James Wan, Ingrid Bisu, and Jordan.

M3GAN was a surprise hit at the box office, with $181M worldwide over a $12M budget. Appealing to many as a sister film to Universal’s Child’s Play franchise, M3GAN got a significant boost in hype when the deadly doll’s dance moves went viral on social media. In the weeks leading up to the film’s release, every TikTok user with a sense of rhythm recreated M3GAN’s brief but hypnotic dance sequence from the movie. The M3GAN PR team even arranged for M3GAN dancers to pop up in crowded squares and local sporting events to recreate the dance for unsuspecting audiences. The dance became as popular as Jenna Ortega’s musical sequence from Tim Burton’s Wednesday, and the rest is history.

A M3GAN sequel is also on the way, called M3GAN 2.0. Allison Williams and Violet McGraw return for the follow-up film, which will arrive in theaters on June 27, 2025.

Are you excited about Blumhouse and Atomic Monster expanding the M3GAN universe with SOULM8TE? What do you think about Lily Sullivan playing the lead in SOULM8TE? Let us know in the comments section below.

Source: Deadline

Tags: SOULM8TE

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Born and raised in New York, then immigrated to Canada, Steve Seigh has been a JoBlo.com editor, columnist, and critic since 2012. He started with Ink & Pixel, a column celebrating the magic and evolution of animation, before launching the companion YouTube series Animation Movies Revisited. He's also the host of the Talking Comics Podcast, a personality-driven audio show focusing on comic books, film, music, and more. You'll rarely catch him without headphones on his head and pancakes on his breath.