"Black Phone 2" Trailer: Finney Faces Unfinished Business with the Grabber’s Ghost in Upcoming Horror Sequel with Mason Thames, Madeleine McGraw, and Ethan Hawke

The terrifying Grabber isn't done yet, and neither is his phone line to the afterlife. Mason Thames and Ethan Hawke return in this spine-tingling sequel to the 2022 horror hit.

Word to the wise: if a random black phone mysteriously starts ringing nearby, don’t pick it up. Unless you’re ready to deal with whoever’s on the other end. And chances are, they’re not calling to chat about how your day’s going. It’s likely they want to chat about how your day’s going to end… and in most cases, quite horribly!

Finney Shaw, the teen protagonist from the 2022 supernatural horror hit The Black Phone, discovered that a mysterious black telephone could actually be a lifeline. Trapped in the locked basement of a terrifying masked child abductor and serial killer known as the Grabber, Finney found an unlikely source of hope: the phone allowed him to communicate with the killer’s past victims, murdered children whose voices guided him toward survival and escape.

In this upcoming sequel, Black Phone 2, for which an official trailer has dropped, Finney—now a bit older (again played by Mason Thames) but still haunted by his ordeal—discovers that a telephone linked to the hereafter works both ways: sure, you can talk to spirits, but spirits can also reach out and talk to you… even if you’re not ready to hear what they have to say. Even if you never wanted to hear from them again.

And it looks like the Grabber’s not done talking, nor is he done torturing poor Finney, even though The Grabber has been six feet under since the final moment of the last film. Apparently, hell takes long-distance phone calls... and the Grabber’s got a bag full of quarters and a whole lot of unfinished business.

Once again directed by horror filmmaker Scott Derrickson—who not only gave us the original The Black Phone but also the Sinister franchise and Marvel’s Doctor Strange—the upcoming sequel sees the return of Ethan Hawke as the masked, kabuki-like serial killer known as the Grabber. Only this time, he’s terrorizing his victims from beyond the grave.

Joining Mason Thames (who also stars in this summer’s live-action How to Train Your Dragon) is Madeleine McGraw, reprising her role as Finney’s younger sister Gwen. Her psychic bond helped save her brother once before, but now that psychic connection may be dragging her straight into the Grabber’s nightmarish clutches.

The sequel will also see Jeremy Davies return as Finney and Gwen’s troubled father, Terrence, alongside new additions Demian Bichir and Anna Lore with Miguel Mora, and Arianna Rivas rounding out the cast.

The original The Black Phone, which earned over $160 million worldwide and became one of 2022’s biggest horror hits, was based on a short story by Joe Hill (author of Horns and NOS4A2), who also happens to be the son of horror legend Stephen King.

This new sequel is an original continuation written by Derrickson himself, along with his longtime horror collaborator, screenwriter C. Robert Cargill. According to reports, Hill—after seeing the film’s success—pitched Derrickson and Cargill an idea for how the story could continue if they ever chose to return. Turns out, the call came through loud and clear.

Black Phone 2 is set to haunt theaters on October 17th, just in time for the Halloween season.