Arkasha Stevenson to direct The Omen prequel

Everyone knows the story of little Damien Thorn, a perfectly normal boy who was unfairly accused of being the antichrist and had to suffer a life full of tragedy as everyone he ever knew was killed in some kind of horrific accident—including his father, who was shot by police after trying to murder poor Damien with the Seven Daggers Of Megiddo (as seen in Richard Donner’s 1976 documentary The Omen). But what you may not know is what happened before all of that… though The Omen establishes that the only thing that happened before all of that was Damien being born, possibly via a jackal(?), and then being adopted by the Thorn family when their real baby dies.

And yet Deadline is reporting that 20th Century Studios is now moving forward with The First Omen, a prequel to the original Donner movie (not the 2006 remake or the A&E TV reboot, then) that will presumably answer all of the burning questions that ‘70s audiences had when they saw the original film in theaters or on their old ‘70s streaming services. Again, though, those questions probably begin and end with “what was the deal with that Damien kid anyway,” and—by the nature of this being a prequel—it’s going to be hard to feature him much.

But maybe that’s a good thing, since it leaves the filmmakers—including director Arkasha Stevenson, making her feature debut here after helming episodes of Brand New Cherry Flavor, Legion, and Briarpatch—with a little more freedom. They get to tell a spooky satanic with name recognition that isn’t necessarily beholden to an important canon, as long as it involves a baby with a “666” birthmark being born at some point. Or, Hell, it could take place even further in the past and just have some ominous… omen about the fact that an evil baby who grows up to be Sam Neill will eventually be born. You can do whatever you want, The First Omen filmmakers! It’s all for you!