If the Halloween franchise is to continue after Halloween Ends with a new trilogy, it should redeem the story of Jamie Lloyd, Laurie Strode’s daughter in the original sequels. The 1980s saw the birth of some of the most popular franchises in the horror genre, among those Halloween. It all began in 1978 with John Carpenter’s Halloween, which even though wasn’t well-received during its initial release, has now become one of the most influential horror movies.
Halloween introduced the audience to Michael Myers, who on Halloween night 1963 murdered his older sister when he was six years old. Michael was then sent to Smith’s Grove Sanitarium, where he became Dr. Sam Loomis’ (Donald Pleasence) patient. Fifteen years later, on October 30, 1978, Michael escaped and returned to his hometown Haddonfield, Illinois, where he began to stalk Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) and her friends. Michael went on a killing spree on Halloween night and the only survivor was Laurie, who became Michael’s main target in subsequent movies. However, the Halloween franchise has gone through a couple of retcons, and at one point, Laurie was left aside and her daughter, Jamie Lloyd (Danielle Harris), became the new protagonist.
Jamie Lloyd was Michael Myers’ target in Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers and Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers, and during the first minutes of Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers. After the latter, the franchise was retconned again and Laurie was brought back in Halloween H20: 20 Years Later, and Jamie Lloyd was erased from this timeline. Laurie was given a son, John Tate (Josh Hartnett), and Jamie Lloyd’s story became one of the most frustrating ones in the Halloween franchise – but that could be fixed with another reboot trilogy in the Halloween universe.
Between Halloween II and Halloween 4 (as Halloween III: Season of the Witch is separate from the Michael Myers timeline), Laurie Strode and her husband were killed in a car accident, leaving their daughter, Jamie Lloyd, orphaned. Jamie was later adopted by the Carruthers family, who were close to Laurie as she used to babysit their daughter, Rachel (Ellie Cornell). Jamie was unaware of her connection to “the boogeyman”, who she saw in nightmares, but she later learned that he was her uncle. Michael, who had been in a coma, awoke and escaped to hunt down his relatives one more time, and so Jamie became his new target. With the help of Rachel and Dr. Loomis, Jamie survived, but when she approached an unconscious Michael and touched his hand, a connection between them was ignited. By the end of Halloween 4, Jamie, still in her clown costume, stabbed her foster mother (though not fatally), as she was under the influence of Michael.
In Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers, set a year later, a severely traumatized Jamie was living at the Haddonfield Children’s Clinic. Just like Michael after he killed his sister, Jamie was mute, but she continued suffering from nightmares and seizures. Meanwhile, Michael, once again in a coma, awakened, and with that, Jamie regained the ability to speak but had seizures every time Michael killed someone. Jamie learned that she had a telepathic link with Michael, which Loomis used to their advantage to catch him, but not without Jamie going through a lot of suffering again. By the end of Halloween 5, with Michael imprisoned again, it seemed as if Jamie’s nightmares were finally over, but the story came with a twist, as Michael was released by the mysterious “Man in Black”, attacked everyone at the police station, and the Man in Black kidnapped her. Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers brought Jamie's arc to an end, but not a satisfying one. While being held captive by the Cult of Thorn for six years, Jamie was artificially inseminated and gave birth to a baby boy, and with the help of a nurse, who knew what the cult was planning, she escaped with her son. Jamie was chased by Michael and she managed to hide her son in the restroom of a bus station, but she was eventually caught. Michael impaled her on a corn thresher, and that was the end of Jamie Lloyd.
Laurie Strode is the final girl of the Halloween franchise, but her now-forgotten daughter is the most underrated hero. Even though she was just eight years old in Halloween 4, Jamie had as much bravery as any other final girl in horror, and on top of that, she was a very likable character. Jamie was an outsider from the beginning, with her parents dead, her not feeling loved by her new family (even though she was), kids at school making fun of her for being the niece of “the boogeyman”, and her many nightmares of a scary man she had never even known. In addition to that, Danielle Harris’ performance made the character one to root for, and she was a perfect balance of innocence and bravery, as even though she was young, she fought for her life like any other adult character in the franchise.
Jamie Lloyd is also the character in the Halloween franchise that has been mistreated the most. It seems like the writers forgot that Jamie was a child and she had to deal with a lot of trauma even before Michael Myers woke up, and she suffered even more than Laurie has in the whole franchise. Jamie’s end in Halloween 6 did no justice to the character (and the whole “artificial insemination” part of it was disgusting and disrespectful), and she could have had a second chance had Halloween H20 not rewritten the timeline again, replacing her with John Tate. Jamie was once again left aside in the reboot trilogy, which instead gave Laurie a new family with her daughter Karen (Judy Greer) and granddaughter Allyson (Andi Matichak), who have become the new heroines of the franchise.
The Halloween franchise hasn’t been the most consistent, going through different retcons (including the remakes by Rob Zombie) and thus creating different timelines, but this can play to the franchise’s and Jamie Lloyd’s favor. The current reboot trilogy serves as a direct continuation to Carpenter’s original film, ignoring all movies that came after it, so the timeline could be reset again if the writers ever decide to do so. Halloween Ends is set to end the “Laurie Strode saga”, but the franchise can continue its course with a new reboot trilogy only this time continuing the events of Halloween 4.
Through this, Halloween can bring back and redeem Jamie Lloyd’s story, ignoring everything that happened in Halloween 5 and Halloween 6 and giving her the story and ending she deserves as a heroine and final girl of the franchise, especially after that twist ending in Halloween 4 where she became the killer (and not by choice or will). The future of the Halloween franchise beyond Halloween Ends is unknown, but in the era of reboots and more, and with continuity not being an important element in this universe, there can be more movies that continue previous storylines that weren’t handled correctly.
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