SPOILERS: M. Night Shyamalan told MTV Split’s surprise ending 6 years ago

Last Updated on July 21, 2021

Let me start this off by saying this will (possibly/hopefully) be the last post we make about SPLIT's ending. We'll see… Anyway, the surprise ending to last weekend's hit flick SPLIT took the world by (pleasant) surprise. I don't know one person who hated said ending. I'm sure they are out there, but in the day and age of every superhero movie ending with a surprise connection to another superhero movie, how can you hate on M. Night for riffing on the trope with HIS superhero flick? Exactly.

So, I watched UNBREAKABLE again last night and then thought to check out the film's Wikipedia page. There I found a bit in the "sequel" section that went like this; "In September 2010, Shyamalan revealed that the second planned villain from the first film was moved to the planned sequel, but that character has now been used for an upcoming film that he will write and produce." Interesting… So I checked the link, which was to the page for DEVIL, and found this interview M. Night had with MTV back in 2010. 

First, let me give you some context for this story; There was once a whole series of films planned to be produced called "The Night Chronicles." This were set to be films based on M. Night's ideas, brought to the screen by other writers/directors. Three were planned. Only one (DEVIL) made it to the screen. Okay, got it? Let's proceed.

Back in September of 2010 during press runs for DEVIL, M. Night told MTV his UNBREAKABLE 2 story would indeed hit the big screen, but as a completely different film.

"I cannibalized the idea for the sequel to 'Unbreakable' for one of the 'Night Chronicles'. It was such a cool idea for a villain, and it was actually originally in the script for 'Unbreakable' and it was too much. There were too many villains, so I pulled this villain out and was like, 'I'll make this the second flick."

"I fleshed it out more and more, and thought, 'This could be a standalone movie'. I'll just say it: the third 'Night Chronicles' movie is what would have been the sequel [to Unbreakable]. So now I need to come up with a new idea."

So there you have it. M. Night told us way back in fall 2010 that the third film in THE NIGHT CHRONICLES was to be SPLIT (he just didn't call it out by name) and that the film would be the un-used sequel to UNBREAKABLE. Hence, he gave the surprise ending long before SPLIT dominated last weekend's box office.. Pretty cool, eh?

On a side note, M. Night also had this to say in regard to UNBREAKABLE:

"I love that movie. 'Unbreakable' and 'The Village' are my favorite two movies of mine."

Nice! I am a HUGE fan and supporter of THE VILLAGE. I think it is a massively underappreciated film, and I'm happy to hear it is one of M. Night's favorite films. The man's got good taste (sometimes).

How's that for a twist?