Get our free weekly email for all the latest cinematic news from our film critic Clarisse Loughrey
Get our The Life Cinematic email for free
Since The Sixth Sense, M. Night Shyamalan has made progressively worse films, hitting rock bottom with The Last Airbender in 2010 (although, that does not excuse the terrible After Earth).
Of course, Split wouldn’t be an M. Night Shyamalan without a classic M. Night Shyamalan, and the film does not disappoint.
WARNING: Spoilers ahead - we’re talking about Split’s ending, there are going to be spoilers. If you haven’t, get to the cinema and see this great flick.
Films to get excited about in 2017
Show all 13
So, as you know from having likely seen the film, the film finishes with the revelation that Split is set in the same universe as Unbreakable, Shyamalan’s 2000 superhero thriller starring Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson.
Before the final scene even begins, James Newton Howard’s Unbreakable score can be heard creeping in before Willis himself makes an appearance.
While, due to the nature of the scene being at the end of the film, you may conclude Shyamalan tied the two films together as an afterthought: the complete opposite is true.
Speaking to EW, Shyamalan revealed that McAvoy’s character Kevin Wendell Crumb - who has 23 different personalities - featured in the first Unbreakable draft.
“This character, Kevin from Split, was in the original script of Unbreakable,” he told the publication. “The original draft of Unbreakable focused on David Dunn and Elijah as his mentor. Elijah tells him, ‘You’re a comic book character, go try it.’ And instead of bumping into the Orange Suit Man, David bumps into one of Kevin’s personalities and goes to save the girls. So you’d have been watching the girls side of it the whole time. That was the outline.”
Watch Apple TV+ free for 7 days
New subscribers only. £8.99/mo. after free trial. Plan auto-renews until cancelled
Shyamalan added that numerous scenes from Split - including one with Patricia and Hedwig’s introduction - were written over 15 years ago.
On the possibility of a proper Unbreakable sequel, the director revealed the film already has “a really robust outline, which is pretty intricate,” but nothing is set in stone.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies