After ‘Insidious 6’ Was Scrapped, Star Lin Shaye Said ‘F— This’ and Wrote a Letter Pleading With Sony’s CEO to Save It (EXCLUSIVE)

There might not be an “Insidious: Out of the Further” without franchise star Lin Shaye.

Before creatives confirmed production of the now-released film, a sixth installment of the horror franchise was in the early stages of development at Sony. But after a behind-the-scenes regime change, the movie was scrapped from Sony’s upcoming slate.

“Fuck this,” Shaye thought after learning of the film’s cancellation.

Eager to still bring the story to the big screen, Shaye wrote a letter to Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group chairman and CEO Tom Rothman, whom she’d met while filming 1998’s “There’s Something About Mary,” pleading for the sixth movie to be made. It wasn’t necessarily an act for herself, the 82-year-old scream queen says, but for the franchise’s passionate fanbase. Shaye’s bold move worked: Rothman agreed to greenlight the project.

“It gives me chills because I don’t consider myself a mover and a shaker,” Shaye tells Variety, logging on to Zoom from her Los Angeles home. “It’s not like I single-handedly got this movie made, but I spoke up. I think speaking up must never, ever stop. Don’t ever stop.”