Amy Madigan Shares Update on Prequel to ‘Weapons’ Focusing on Aunt Gladys

Amy Madigan provided an update on a potential Weapons prequel that would focus on her fan-favorite character Aunt Gladys.

Madigan shared the update while speaking to media in the press room at the 2026 Critics Choice Awards in Santa Monica, Calif., on Sunday, Jan. 4, after receiving the award for Best Supporting Actress for the role.

“I’m very ultra realist,” she said of the prospect of a Gladys-centered movie. “So until something’s real, it’s not, because I’ve been doing this business a long time.”

“But that being said, there has been some discussion about investigating maybe Gladys’ start. And that, I think, would be kind of interesting. And I would love to live back in [writer and director] Zach [Cregger]’s imagination… So you will see. I hope so. That’d be fun,” she added.

Madigan, 75, additionally spoke to the fact that solid roles for women are hard to come by in the industry, despite moves forward.

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“I think the industry’s getting better [for women overall], but I think you just have to read the percentages of how many women were directing and how many were in a film or in a television show [this year]. I mean, it’s gone down from last year, some large percentage points. So I think that’s a problem that we have,” she said.

“Good parts are few and far between for lots of people … When Weapons came around, I was so happy to get a great script and have a great character. I just knew Gladys was … I could just knock it out of the park. So that’s great. And then we’ll see if I get another job. That’s how it goes,” she added. 

When accepting the award earlier in the evening, Madigan revealed that she has been taken aback by the popularity of her character in the hit horror film.

“I really wasn’t expecting all this because I thought people would like the movie, and I thought people would dig Gladys. But you love Gladys. I mean, it’s crazy!” she told the audience.

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She continued, “I get makeup tutorials and paintings. I even got one weird thing about how she’s a sex icon … I didn’t go too deep into that one.”

“I never really knew what it [meant] to thank your fans. Usually I see that with great music people. But I’m thanking my fans for this, too,” she added.