A24's 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre' Gets a Cryptic Update From Glen Powell

1 week ago 10

Published Feb 17, 2026, 12:47 PM EST

Shrishty is a decade-old journalist covering a variety of beats between politics to pop culture, but movies are her first love, which led her to study Film and TV Development at UCLAx. She lives and breathes cinema and sometimes wakes up with the close-up shot of Ryan Gosling's hands playing piano in La La Land, in her head.

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Leatherface just refuses to die. Texas Chainsaw Massacre is among the most influential and iconic movies of the 70s, let alone one of the most important horror flicks ever made. Directed by Tobe Hooper, the movie began as an indie project on a meager budget and has since spawned a franchise loved by horror fans worldwide. The mystery of Leatherface, his choice of weapon, a group of people being hunted, and a final girl made the original feature a horror gem that has influenced several filmmakers since.

The success of the 1974 movie warranted a sequel, which saw Hooper return to the director’s chair, and rather than repeating the iconic tropes and tone, he chose to direct it as a dark, campy comedy. And ever since, the series has been rebooted multiple times, with several directors having their own take. The franchise has nine movies in total, often grouped into separate timelines rather than one continuous story.

The most recent version of the story dates to 2022, when Netflix produced a version that circles back to the original, but failed to impress both fans and critics. Now A24 is rebooting the franchise with both a TV show and a tenth entry in the franchise, with actor Glen Powell’s production company also backing both. While the details are scarce, fans are expecting to see Powell as the iconic villain. Nonetheless, the actor is tight-lipped about it, but he opened up about the process of returning to the brutal world of Leatherface in a recent interview. Calling the film “one of the most brilliant horror movies,” he said, “A24 is a place that’s really making such special things…”

"We just really talked to the rights holders… JT Mollner and… some other creatives around it… they’re so passionate about what we’re doing. They have a really strong vision… Everybody around it really cares… I care about it, everybody cares about it. I know we’re going to do something really special with it, so I’m feeling very very good… It was a long process to get there, but I know we have something really fun ahead."

Will Glen Powell Star as Leatherface in A24's Reboot?

When pressed about the extent of his involvement in the film as an actor and fans’ expectation to see him as the iconic villain, he cryptically teased, “You never know, but as of now…. I really think it’s probably just something for [my production company] Barnstorm to produce, but I’m definitely going to be very involved.” Powell has previously denied he will star in the new interpretation, but his new comments seem to indicate there's a possibility he'll appear. Powell has consistently delivered great movies in a short span of time, ranging from playing the cocky Hangman in Top Gun: Maverick, to an adorable jerk in Anyone But You, to his recent high-octane role in The Running Man. Whether or not he will star in the upcoming TV series or film remains to be seen, but he will be heavily involved as a producer.

Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.