James Wan Knows You’re Dying ...

Everyone’s favorite kill-crazy toy not named Chucky is back in theaters June 27, and if M3GAN 2.0 captures audiences like the 2023 original did, a third film seems all but guaranteed. But before a trilogy might happen, another film in M3GAN’s universe will arrive: SOULM8TE, the previously announced R-rated spin-off that will examine the dangers of AI from a more grown-up perspective.

In new interviews, producer James Wan and M3GAN star Allison Williams (an executive producer on SOULM8TE) spilled a few beans on what to expect.

Both Wan and Williams told Entertainment Weekly that SOULM8TE came from the inevitable questions raised by a world with the means to create an eerily lifelike AI doll.

“We will give you a different person and a different story and an R-rated world to do this in. Let M3GAN be M3GAN, and leave her out of this completely,” Williams said. “It felt irresistible to then say, if a M3GAN existed in our world, someone would take that tech and put it in the form of a female-bodied person whose sole purpose on the planet is to pleasure a person. We extrapolate from there.”

Wan said SOULM8TE is “basically set in the same AI world but seen through a more grown-up perspective, one that embraces all the great erotic thrillers from the ’90s. It’s like Fatal Attraction but with robots.” There will be humor baked in, but not on the level of “sassiness” as what the M3GAN films bring to the table.

Look for SOULM8TE—directed by Kate Dolan (You Are Not My Mother) and starring Evil Dead Rise‘s Lily Sullivan as the terrifying AI companion—to spice up theaters January 2, 2026.

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.