Amy Madigan Provides Exciting Insights on the Weapons Prequel Centered Around Aunt Gladys
Amy Madigan at the 2026 Critics Choice Awards (left); Amy Madigan in ‘Weapons’.
Credit :
Amy Sussman/Getty; Quantrell Colbert/Warner Bros.
Amy Madigan Discusses Potential Prequel to "Weapons"
Amy Madigan recently provided an update on a possible prequel to the hit film Weapons, focusing on her beloved character, Aunt Gladys. The actress shared her thoughts during the 31st Annual Critics Choice Awards held on January 4, 2026, in Santa Monica, California, where she accepted the award for Best Supporting Actress.
“I’m very ultra realist,” Madigan stated regarding the likelihood of the prequel coming to fruition. “So until something’s real, it’s not, because I’ve been doing this business a long time.” Despite her cautious stance, she acknowledged that there has been some discussion about exploring Gladys’s origins. “That would be kind of interesting, and I would love to live back in [writer and director] Zach [Cregger]’s imagination… So you will see. I hope so. That’d be fun,” she added.
Madigan, 75, expressed gratitude for the unexpected popularity of her character, which she noted had prompted significant fan engagement. “I really wasn’t expecting all this because I thought people would like the movie, and I thought people would dig Gladys. But you love Gladys. I mean, it’s crazy!” she remarked during her acceptance speech.
As the conversation shifted towards the current landscape for women in film, Madigan noted that strong roles are still a rarity, despite progress being made in the industry. “I think the industry’s getting better [for women overall], but you just have to read the percentages of how many women were directing and how many were in a film or in a television show [this year]. It’s gone down from last year, some large percentage points. So I think that’s a problem that we have,” she emphasized.
Reflecting on her role in Weapons, she shared, “Good parts are few and far between for lots of people… When Weapons came around, I was so happy to get a great script and have a great character. I just knew Gladys was … I could just knock it out of the park.”
During the event, Madigan received various expressions of admiration from fans, including makeup tutorials and artwork. She humorously mentioned, “I even got one weird thing about how she’s a sex icon … I didn’t go too deep into that one.”
Overall, Madigan’s involvement with Weapons has not only highlighted her enduring talent but also sparked discussions about deeper narratives and representation in the film industry.
