The 1976 horror classic The Omen is getting a prequel titled The First Omen, and it can finally answer some of the first movie’s biggest questions. In the 1960s and 1970s, the horror genre went through a wave of supernatural movies with religious themes, among them The Omen. Directed by Richard Donner and written by David Seltzer, The Omen introduced the audience to American diplomat Robert Thorn (Gregory Peck) and his wife Kathy (Lee Remick), who were expecting their first child – sadly, the baby died immediately, but Robert agreed to secretly adopt another baby born at the same time, at the same hospital.
Five years later, with the Thorns now living in London after Robert became Ambassador to the United Kingdom, mysterious events begin to happen around them, starting during their son Damien’s fifth birthday. Robert eventually learns that his son is the Antichrist, and he and Kathy are in real danger. Now, almost five decades after The Omen’s release, it’s getting a prequel that will explore Damien’s origins, and with that, it can finally solve some of the biggest mysteries left by the first movie.
Related
When Is The First Omen Set? (How Long Before The Omen 1976 Does It Take Place)
The First Omen serves as a prequel to the popular 1976 supernatural horror movie The Omen – so, in what year does the upcoming film take place?
8 Who Was Damien’s Biological Mother?
Damien’s biological mother was not what everyone expected.
When Robert Thorn was told his child had died, he knew that such tragic news would destroy his wife. Before Kathy was even told what had happened, Father Spiletto convinced Robert to adopt a baby that, curiously enough, was born at the same time as his now-deceased child, and whose mother had died during childbirth. Robert even asked if the child had no family left in order to leave no loose ends, and only then did he agree to take the child and not tell Kathy what had happened.
The identity of Damien’s mother isn’t revealed, and the grave Robert and Keith Jennings (David Warner) found had the name “Maria Scianna”, but this is understood to be a false name. Inside the grave was the carcass of a jackal, who has been established as being Damien’s biological mother (somehow), but The First Omen is finally retconning this by giving Damien a human mother.
7 What Happened To Damien’s Biological Mother After His Birth?
Robert Thorn was told Damiens’ biological mother was dead.
The Omen implied that Damien’s biological mother was a jackal, but it’s not clear if it truly died after giving birth to Damien or if it was killed – after all, Robert discovered that his biological child was murdered, and he didn’t die immediately after his birth. With The First Omen introducing a human mother to Damien, the prequel can answer the big mystery of what happened to her after Damien’s death, as well as why a jackal was buried in what was supposed to be her grave.
6 Who Provoked The Hospital’s Fire?
A fire took place shortly after Damien’s birth.
While Kathy recovered at the hospital following an incident in which Damien knocked her over a railing to the floor below at their home, Robert and Jennings traveled to Rome to investigate Damien’s birth. When they arrived at the hospital where Damien was born, they learned that a fire destroyed the hospital five years earlier, not long after Robert adopted Damien. The fire destroyed all the hospital’s records, so there was no evidence of Damien’s birth and the death of the Thorns’ child. It’s unknown who was responsible for the fire, but that’s something The First Omen can answer.
5 Had The Nuns Been Following The Thorns?
The Thorns were targeted for a reason.
Robert and Jennings’ investigation led them to discover a couple of shocking things from religious texts that talked about the Antichrist. One, in particular, claimed that the Antichrist would rise from the world of politics, which made sense given Robert’s job as Ambassador. This raised the question of whether the nuns and priests at the hospital where Damien was born had been keeping a close eye on the Thorns, knowing that Kathy was pregnant and that Robert worked in politics, or if it was just a very convenient coincidence that the wife of an Ambassador gave birth there at the same time as the Antichrist’s arrival.
4 Were The Nuns & Priests Secretly Satanists?
The nuns knew too much about Damien.
As mentioned above, Kathy gave birth at the same hospital where Damien was born, and it was run by nuns and priests. However, The Omen didn’t explain what type of religious hospital this was, and it’s even more intriguing given the shady stuff that happened there, such as the illegal adoption of Damien. It could be possible that the nuns and priests were secretly Satanists, hence why they targeted the Thorns and found a home for the Antichrist, who had to be raised by a human family for him to rise as prophesied.
3 Who Sent Mrs. Baylock To The Thorns’ House?
Mrs. Baylock was sent to protect Damien.
The mysterious events that haunted the Thorns until their deaths started during Damien’s fifth birthday party. Damien was very close to his nanny, but when Kathy saw a photographer at the party taking pictures of Damien and his nanny together, he took him from her. The nanny then came across a Rottweiler that suddenly appeared at the Thorns’ home, and shortly after, the nanny hung herself from the roof of the house for everyone to see, but especially Damien, claiming it was “all for him”. Not long after, a new nanny called Mrs. Baylock (Billie Whitelaw) arrived at the Thorns’ home unannounced, claiming to be from the same agency as the past nanny, even though neither Robert nor Kathy had asked for a new nanny.
It’s unknown who really sent Baylock to the Thorns’ home to protect Damien, as it could have been the nuns from the hospital, a Satanic group, or the agency she mentioned, though that would mean that the first nanny also knew who Damien really was.
2 Why Was Damien’s Biological Mother Chosen To Birth The Antichrist?
Damien’s nature wasn’t a secret to the nuns & priests.
As mentioned above, The Omen reveals that Damien’s biological mother was a jackal, but The First Omen is retconning this through the inverted Immaculate Conception of a nun. The questions now are not just who this nun was (perhaps the real Maria Scianna or someone else) but why she was chosen to birth the Antichrist. This is linked to the question of what exactly the nun’s religious affiliation was and their real plans and motivations, and what type of requirements a nun had to fulfill to be impregnated by Satan and bring his child into the world.
1 Why Were Damien’s Powers Unleashed On His 5th Birthday?
Damien’s powers were dormant throughout most of his childhood.
A montage in The Omen after Damien’s adoption and before his fifth birthday party showed that he had a pretty normal childhood during his first five years. Damien’s powers and evil were unleashed when he turned five, but why they waited until then to manifest is a mystery. Many viewers have even pointed out on social media and forums that it would have made more sense for Damien’s powers to be unleashed on his sixth birthday, given that he was born on July 6 at 6 am and had the “666” mark on his head. The First Omen, then, can give a quick explanation as to why the Antichrist’s fifth birthday was so important.
