M3GAN 2.0 Director Reveals New Version Is on the Way (Even After Box Office Struggles)

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“There will be an unrated version with a few [extra] scenes,” writer and director Gerard Johnstone told the outlet. “We really want the [theatrical cut] to be under two hours. However, in the unrated cut, you’ll see a few things that didn’t make it into the theatrical version.” While he doesn’t go into detail regarding the extra scenes, he does note that some of the footage from the trailers that never made the movie was made specifically for promotional material.

He added, “Also, there are many lines in the trailers that help tell the story, but M3GAN doesn’t say them in the film at all. The studio needed promotional material. Sometimes, the trailers were already made before we could decide, ‘Can this beat make it into the movie or not?’ But, in a way, it still informs the universe.”

News of an unrated cut for M3GAN 2.0 shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. The first movie also received an unrated cut upon its home video release. The M3GAN unrated cut, which was shorter than the theatrical cut, was much of the same, with the exception of an increase in gore and profanity. The M3GAN movies have, so far, been released as PG-13 movies, seemingly to pull in a larger audience. With the lack of restrictions, the unrated version was able to drop more f-bombs and spend time highlighting the gruesome deaths that receive cutaways in the theatrical version. Although Johnstone wasn’t entirely specific with what the M3GAN 2.0 cut will entail, it seems likely it’ll follow in the footsteps of its predecessor and make use of the lack of rating to truly delve into the bloody moments on screen.

The highly anticipated sequel was released on June 27th and opened to $10.2 million domestically, a steep drop from the original movie’s $30.4 million debut a little over two years ago. While the film hasn’t met box office expectations so far, producer Jason Blum seems understanding of what did and didn’t work with the sequel. He noted that while audiences seemed to want more M3GAN, they might’ve gotten a bit too ambitious with the sequel and, as a result, overthought the sequel and what audiences would want to see from the breakout character.

It remains to be seen whether Blumhouse and Universal decide to move forward with any further sequels. However, the M3GAN spinoff, SOULM8TE, is still on track to hit theaters on January 9, 2026.

M3GAN 2.0 is now playing exclusively in theaters. Need a refresher on M3GAN before going to see the sequel? The first M3GAN movie is now available to stream on Hulu and Prime Video.