1. It’s Loretta Devine- Ms. Devine is an award winning stage, television and film actress who’s career goes back 6 decades. From her breakout role as the Lorrell Robinson in the original Broadway cast of DREAMGIRLS to her scene stealing role as Gloria Matthews in WAITING TO EXHALE and then later as the hilarious matriarch Cynthia Carmichael in the sinfully underrated THE CARMICHAEL SHOW, Ms. Devine has proved herself as a force to be reckoned with. She elevates every character she portrays and she easily outshines her costars.
2. We need more mature women leading horror- With all due respect, Jamie Lee Curtis and Lin Shaye shouldn’t be the only bankable women over the age of 50 to lead horror films. A common horror trope is the “final girl.” We watch a young woman overcome the odds and defeat the masked killer in a typical slasher. However, it’s rare to see that young woman’s journey followed up when she’s older, stronger, and living as survivor of trauma. We don’t know much of Reece’s backstory. This angle could provide endless stories, prequels and eventual sequels.
3. We need more people of color in leading horror roles- Again, with all due respect, Tony Todd and Jordan Peele shouldn’t be the only names that come up when we’re talking about Black presence in modern horror. Nor should this topic only include men. Ms. Devine has been in the game too long to not have her own bankable horror franchise. As mentioned above, Ms. Devine’s pedigree is as impressive as it is extensive.
4. What’s the better alternative? URBAN LEGENDS: BLOODY MARY? The third film serves as a soft reboot of the franchise and moves the focus away from the action and characters of the first 2 films. It should be noted that no other URBAN LEGEND film occurred after BLOODY MARY and this installment was straight to DVD. Coincidence? I think not.
5. She was an audience fave. The URBAN LEGEND series had so much potential to expand into a long running franchise. A way to facilitate that longevity was to have Ms. Devine’s security guard character, Reese Wilson, be the common thread that linked all the films together. She could’ve served as the Dr. Loomis to various pissed off college students wanting to bring urban legends to life. Or she could have also been a consultant on the murders in each installment. There was a lot of potential to continue her character and the franchise.
6. URBAN LEGEND is a franchise that has a robust cast of solid supporting performers including Robert Englund, Danielle Harris, Anthony Anderson, Eva Mendes, even Tara Reid. Yes it was decided to center the first two films around Alicia Witt and Jennifer Morrison, respectively. Instead of focusing the films on two pretty, yet bland, dead-eyed safe actresses as their protagonists refocusing the story on a established character could have give the franchise new legs and we could’ve been gearing up for URBAN LEGENDS 20 this year. How amazing would it have been if the URBAN LEGEND series would’ve mirrored HALLOWEEN’s trope and had Reece following Rebecca Gayheart’s Brenda Bates in later sequels, ala Loomis chasing Michael Myers. Instead we got URBAN LEGENDS: BLOODY MARY and the series died a sad and cruel death.

Ms. Devine is only 70 years old and still very active in Hollywood. In an age of profitable reboots and retconning established franchises I think Mr. and Ms. Hollywood should persuade Ms. Devine to don the security guard again to give us a true URBAN LEGENDS follow up.