Horror’s first final girl takes her last stand in Halloween Ends’ final trailer

(Note: This post contains spoilers for Halloween Kills. Read on with caution!)

“Y’all wanna hear a story about why me & this bitch here fell out? It’s kind of long, but full of suspense”-the indomitable Laurie Strode. Okay, sure, that line is actually from Zola. But with a final, bloody trailer for Halloween Ends now out in the world, the quote seems like an apt description of the never-ending, always casualty-causing beef between Laurie and the “embodiment of evil” Michael Myers.

As Laurie herself notes in the trailer, “something’s different this time”— Universal Pictures has said this will be the conclusion to the Halloween franchise’s 45-year run. What this means onscreen, of course, is that Laurie and Michael have one final film to duke it out—but even in the final trailer before release day, it’s mostly unlucky bystanders who see Michael’s blade.

Halloween Ends picks up four years after 2021's Halloween Kills left off: Michael has disappeared off the face of the earth after killing Laurie’s daughter, Karen (Judy Greer). Michael isn’t actually gone, however, as a wayward explorer who enters the wrong sewer drain will soon find out—he’s just been hiding out in whatever shadowy corner he can find.

Once Laurie inevitably senses Michael’s return, she knows it’s time to strap in— she won’t let her granddaughter, Allyson, face Karen’s fate, even though said granddaughter chides Laurie. “You pretend like you’ve moved on,” she gripes while pushing Laurie out of her room, “but really you’re just obsessed with death!” (She may be dead wrong about a Michael Myers resurgence, but Allyson nails that aspect of Laurie’s character.)

Although other, more naive bystanders than Laurie are also skeptical of Michael’s presence, those are exactly the bystanders who end up dead. Death, however, doesn’t seem like Laurie’s worst nightmare anymore—she’s willing to roll the dice if it means stopping Michael forever.

“Maybe the only way he can die is if I die too,” Laurie says at the trailer’s conclusion. “It all ends now.” After nearly half a century of this gory cat-and-mouse, maybe she’s finally right.

Halloween Ends will land in theaters (and on Peacock for streaming) on October 14.