David Gordon Green’s Halloween took viewers back to Haddonfield, where they reunited with Michael Myers and Laurie Strode, and met Laurie’s daughter and granddaughter too. Andi Matichak plays Allyson Nelson, the youngest Strode, but before she was cast, other actresses showed interest in playing Laurie’s granddaughter. Back in 1978, John Carpenter changed the horror genre with Halloween, a slasher movie that helped popularize and develop the genre in the 1980s. Halloween introduced viewers to serial killer Michael Myers and Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis), the only survivor of his murder spree.
Halloween spawned a franchise with a total of 12 movies, including Rob Zombie’s remakes of Halloween and Halloween II and a movie set outside the Michael Myers timeline (Halloween III: Season of the Witch). The Halloween franchise has gone through three retcons, the most recent one thanks to David Gordon Green’s Halloween, released in 2018, and which is a direct sequel to Carpenter’s original. Because of this, Michael and Laurie are not siblings in this timeline, and his reasons to go after her are unknown.
This retcon allowed writers to give Laurie a new life, which meant erasing her daughter Jamie Lloyd (Danielle Harris) and her son John (Josh Hartnett). Laurie now has a daughter named Karen (Judy Greer), with whom Laurie had no contact prior to the events of the film as they had a difficult relationship, and a granddaughter named Allyson. Halloween was Andi Matichak’s big-screen debut, but before she was cast as one of the Strode women, other well-known actresses were interested in the role.
Halloween 2018: Emma Roberts Could Have Played Laurie’s Granddaughter
Given the legacy of the Halloween franchise and the character of Laurie Strode, is not surprising that the role of Allyson became a coveted one. As a result, many popular actresses were interested in playing Allyson, among those Emma Roberts and Lucy Hale. These actresses reportedly met with writer Danny McBride to talk about the movie, but the studio wanted to stay true to the roots of Carpenter’s original movie and go for an unknown actress for the role of Allyson, just like they did when Jamie Lee Curtis was cast. Halloween was Curtis’ big-screen debut, and history repeated itself with Andi Matichak and the 2018 reboot.
Not playing Allyson wasn’t a big loss for neither Emma Roberts nor Lucy Hale. In 2018, Roberts appeared in the movies In a Relationship, Billionaire Boys Club, and Little Italy, and her most recent credits are Paradise Hills and Netflix’s Holidate. Roberts didn’t stay away from the horror genre, as she joined Ryan Murphy’s American Horror Story, appearing in the seasons Coven, Freak Show, Cult, Apocalypse, and 1984, as well as in Scream Queens, also created by Ryan Murphy. Lucy Hale is no stranger to the horror genre either, and in 2018 she appeared in the supernatural horror movie Truth or Dare, as well as in the coming-of-age movie Dude and the comedy The Unicorn. Her most recent works are the horror movie Fantasy Island, the rom-com A Nice Girl Like You, and the TV shows Riverdale and Katy Keene.
Andi Matichak’s career began in 2013 with the TV show 666 Park Avenue and in 2015 she appeared in an episode of Orange Is the New Black, but Halloween was her big break, as well as her first big-screen role. The Halloween franchise will surely open a lot of doors for Andi Matichak in the near future, and it’s to be seen if she will continue her career in the horror genre or if she will explore other realms.
