CONFIRMED
Blumhouse is heading to the comic shop. At New York Comic Con, Blumhouse and IDW Publishing announced a partnership to publish horror comics under the IDW Dark imprint, starting with The Purge, M3GAN and Happy Death Day, as Dread Central reports from Entertainment Weekly’s exclusive. The Purge goes first in 2027, and despite a few sequel-flavored headlines, none of this means a new movie has been greenlit.
What we know
The deal itself is solid. Dread Central, citing Entertainment Weekly’s exclusive from October 9, 2026, reports that Blumhouse and IDW will publish comics under IDW Dark, the imprint IDW launched in 2024 for licensed horror-film books, per ICv2. The first three properties are The Purge, M3GAN and Happy Death Day. IDW’s Heather Antos told EW the talks with Blumhouse had been running for more than a year.
The Purge comic launches the line. Bloody Disgusting reports it is expected sometime in 2027, written by Dan Watters (Batman: Dark Patterns, TMNT: Shredder) with art by Juan José Ryp. IDW and EW’s reporting, relayed by Dread Central and Bloody Disgusting, describes it as exploring a new setting rather than revisiting the films’ characters. Beyond that, no plot details have been released. For context, there have been five Purge films and two seasons of the TV series, with The Forever Purge in 2021 the last live-action entry, per Bloody Disgusting.
Happy Death Day is the one fans will have questions about, so here is the clear version. Collider’s body text calls it an original comic from Tim Seeley, arriving after The Purge on a date not yet announced. Antos told Bloody Disgusting that she met director Christopher Landon, heard his plan for Happy Death Day 3, and that the comic is built to leave room for that film if it ever gets made. Collider adds that the book is being developed with Landon’s sequel plans in mind, and Bloody Disgusting notes that Landon and star Jessica Rothe still hope to make the third movie. Happy Death Day came out October 13, 2017, and Happy Death Day 2U followed on February 13, 2019. A third film has not been greenlit.
What is rumored
The M3GAN comic has no confirmed story. What exists are loose remarks from Antos, reported by Bloody Disgusting, where she said “I really want M3GAN at prom” and immediately added that she does not know if they will get to do that. That is a wish from an IDW staffer, not a pitch that has been approved. SuperHeroHype takes it further and speculates the comic could follow Katie as she gets older, or send M3GAN to high school. Treat the Katie angle as outlet guesswork. SuperHeroHype also frames the comic news as arriving after M3GAN 2.0 underperformed at the box office, which is their framing rather than anything Blumhouse or IDW said.
What we don’t know yet
Quite a bit. Only The Purge has a launch window, and even that is a loose 2027. No dates have been announced for the M3GAN or Happy Death Day comics, so any outlet suggesting the whole slate lands together in 2027 is reading past the reporting. No creative team has been named for M3GAN. No plot details exist for The Purge beyond the new-setting description. And nothing here changes the status of Happy Death Day 3, which remains a hope shared by Landon and Rothe rather than a project in motion.
It is also worth flagging where the confusion comes from. Collider’s headlines frame the Purge and Happy Death Day books as sequels and talk about the franchises “returning,” and Screen Rant describes a Purge series that “returns in 2027” as a “multi-episode installment.” These are comics. Collider’s own article says as much.
What it means
For Purge fans, a comic that steps away from the film characters into a fresh corner of the Annual Purge is the most interesting way to use the premise, and Watters and Ryp are a credible pairing for grim, violent genre work. The Purge has always been a concept first and a cast second, which makes it a natural fit for anthology-style storytelling on the page.
Happy Death Day is the more delicate case, and IDW seems to know it. Building the comic around Landon’s unmade third film rather than replacing it suggests the book is meant to be a bridge, not a consolation prize. Whether that keeps the door open for Tree Gelbman’s return on screen is out of IDW’s hands.
For now, the only firm date is “2027, for The Purge.” Everything else is a plan, a hope, or a prom night that may never happen.