Glass , the upcoming Universal Pictures release from M. Night Shyamalan, released a new trailer for television today that shows its central character, Elijah Price AKA “Mr. Glass,” teaming up with James McAvoy’s “The Beast” as David Dunn tries to stop them, according to Coming Soon .
Glass will complete the quietly unfolding trilogy that began with Unbreakable in 2000. In that film, David Dunn (Bruce Willis) was the only survivor of a tragic train derailment, leading him on a journey to discover that he possessed the superpower of being impervious to physical harm. Dunn’s acceptance of his role as a protector of the people led to the antimony between him and his friend, mentor, and diametric opposite Elijah Price (Samuel L. Jackson), known as “Mr. Glass.”
There was little in the promotion of Unbreakable to identify it as a superhero genesis story, with Shyamalan’s signature twist coming in the revelation of Mr. Glass as the story’s villain. In a similar fashion, there was little in the promotion of 2016’s Split that positioned it as a sequel to Unbreakable .
In Split , McAvoy plays a man known as “The Horde” who is diagnosed with multiple personality disorder and kidnaps three girls under the influence of one of his personas. The Horde’s 23 personalities then clash over how to respond to the situation, while the girls must figure out how to escape before a frightening new personality emerges.
The trailer for Glass shows Dunn, Price, and McAvoy’s character all confined in the same mental institution, where they are being treated for delusions by Dr. Ellie Staple (Sarah Paulson). The cast also features Anya Taylor-Joy, reprising her role as one of the captive girls from Split, and Spencer Treat and Charlayne Woodard, reprising their roles as Dunn’s son and Price’s mother, respectively, from Unbreakable.
Shyamalan’s star has fallen somewhat since Unbreakable , his follow-up to his star-making film The Sixth Sense . Criticism grew steadily through the subsequent releases of Signs and The Village before exploding following the release of Lady In The Water. Shyamalan’s subsequent films were poorly reviewed until the auteur experienced a bit of a rebirth with Split. The commercial and critical success of Split has opened the door for Shyamalan to make Glass , an upcoming television series set to air in 2019, and the announced production of his next film, Labor of Love.
Glass is set for release by Universal Pictures and Buena Vista International on January 18, 2019.