A Poltergeist 4 came close to happening, with someone new in the iconic role of Carol Anne Freeling. A new Carol Anne would've certainly drawn outraged reactions from many, as the character lives close to the hearts of those who love the Poltergeist films. That's especially due to the sad fate of young actress Heather O'Rourke, who passed away due to illness in 1988 at only 12-years-old. O'Rourke is and will forever be Carol Anne in the eyes of most, and it's almost impossible to imagine anyone else playing her.
While Poltergeist and Poltergeist 2: The Other Side did feature the entire Freeling family as main characters - along with cutting-edge practical effects - Carol Anne was at the center of the stories. It was her "light," the immense energy emitted by her soul, that attracted the spirits residing at the Cuesta Verde subdivision to the Freeling house in particular. Although as famously revealed, these ghosts were only hanging around due to Cuesta Verde being callously built over a Native American burial ground.
Poltergeist 2 zeroed things in on Carol Anne even further, with the reveal that "The Beast," was in fact the spirit of evil religious cult leader Reverend Henry Kane. Kane wanted to use Carol Anne's light to hold the souls of his followers under his sway, as opposed to them walking into the light coming from the afterlife. Due to O'Rourke's death, Carol Anne's story ended with Poltergeist 3, with her again escaping Kane's pursuit. In 2005 though, it was widely reported that a fourth movie, entitled Poltergeist: Kayeri, was in the works, and would bring back Carol Ann as an adult, albeit with Steven Freeling as the central protagonist.
The script for Poltergeist: Kayeri was written by Clint Morris, who's primarily known as an entertainment writer and movie publicist, and had also written a 1999 episode of the largely unrelated Poltergeist: The Legacy TV series. Kayeri would've ignored Poltergeist 3 and been a direct sequel to the first two Poltergeist movies, which makes sense since most people tend to dislike the third. Craig T. Nelson was in talks to return as Steven Freeling, who now lived alone in the mountains away from his family, being drawn into a final battle with Reverend Kane. JoBeth Williams was also being considered to make a brief supporting return as Diane Freeling, with Carol Anne also playing a smaller role in the story.
The biggest headline to come out of anything related to the Poltergeist: Kayeri project involved Carol Anne's casting, as former Disney Channel star Hillary Duff was said to be signed on to take over the role. While that possibility freaked a lot of longtime Poltergeist devotees out, it didn't matter in the end, as by 2006 it seemed fully confirmed that Poltergeist: Kayeri was dead. Sony had purchased MGM in the time between Poltergeist: Kayeri first entering development in 2003 and its existence being publicly revealed in 2005, and Sony turned out to be much more interested in remaking Poltergeist or rebooting it than it did in continuing the established franchise with a Poltergeist 4. Poltergeist did eventually get remade in 2015, although with the ghosts' new target no longer named Carol Anne.
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