Leena Klammer (Isabelle Fuhrman) is committed to a psychiatric facility in Estonia and suffers from a hormone disorder that makes her look like a 9-year-old. She murderously escapes the facility and impersonates Esther, the missing daughter of Trisha (Julia Stiles), who welcomes her back to the family with open arms. Now living in their home, Esther does her best to fit in, but a twist plots her against Trisha as she does whatever it takes to protect her family.

“I think Esther, in this one, has met her match,” commented Stiles, “the family that she manipulates, at the head of that family is the matriarch, my character Trisha… she’s desperate to heal the family, and she’s holding on to this idea that they can, and that it will all work out, but she looks at Esther like, ‘there’s something off, this doesn’t quite feel right.’ What she does with that is really fun to watch, and to see Esther have to reckon with that… it’s something that I think fans of the first one will really appreciate.”

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Alongside Stiles and Fuhrman in the cast of Orphan: First Kill are Rossif Sutherland, Matthew Finlan, Hiro Kanagawa, Samantha Walkes, and more. It’s written by David Coggeshall, David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick, and Alex Mace, and directed by William Brent Bell.

Tricia and Esther in Orphan: First Kill

Fuhrman was 10 years old when she played Esther in the original 2009 Orphan movie. Jump 13 years to 2022, and tricks were needed to help her appear of similar age for the prequel Orphan: First Kill. These included a different lighting set, camera angles, the exaggeration of other characters, and more.

“The day-to-day challenges for me were part of the tricks of the camera to make it believable that Isabelle was a little girl. We had to do camera tricks, but then also there was the height difference. We had things like I would wear these platform boots that we called the ‘Gene Simmons boots,’ and they kept growing. First, they made me five inches taller, then they needed to make me seven inches taller… they’re not easy to walk in, and they feel ridiculous while you’re wearing them, but you can’t break, you have to keep playing a serious scene as though you’re not wearing something crazy,” explained Stiles.

     Paramount Pictures

She continued, noting how Fuhrman sometimes had to squat while walking in some scenes or roll around in a chair that would make her look shorter. “Those are obvious distractions that were challenging to look beyond.”

Another challenge was portraying her character before and after the twist. “One of the challenges that was really exciting for me, and made me want to play this part, is that I almost had to treat it like two different characters. Patricia at the beginning before the twist, and the Tricia after the twist. That was really fun,” said Stiles.

Possibility of Orphan 3

     Warner Bros. Pictures

There is currently no confirmation for Orphan 3, however, both Bell and Fuhrman commented that they would be happy to do so. In a previous interview about the release of Orphan: First Kill, Fuhrman commented that she has already been asked by the team.

“I’ve already been asked about Orphan 3 from the team, so maybe, you never know,” said Fuhrman, adding that she feels they won’t wait 13 years this time around.

“I feel a trilogy can tell a full story… with this story, we get to see a different side… but we still don’t know much about the years before…. and Isabelle is so passionate about the character. It’s like, you can play this character forever if you wanted to, if we can do it in this movie… there’s a lot to that character, and I think in the future stories, she would probably become a bit more cold-hearted again,” said Bell.

Paramount Pictures will release Orphan: First Kill in theaters, on demand, and streaming on Paramount+ on August 19, 2022.