Summary

• The First Omen, a prequel to the classic horror franchise, is set to release on April 5th, 2024, and offers a chance to reignite the series by expanding on its lore.
• Director Arkasha Stevenson, known for her work on Channel Zero, and producer David S. Goyer, known for The Dark Knight trilogy, are leading the behind-the-scenes team for The First Omen.
• The new movie will follow a young American woman in Rome as she uncovers a dark conspiracy to bring about the birth of the antichrist, offering a chilling and unique twist to the Omen series.

The classic horror franchise returns in The First Omen, and there are plenty of exciting updates about the terrifying new prequel film. Starting with the release of the eponymous movie in 1976, the Omen franchise concerns a young boy named Damien who is adopted by a couple and slowly begins to reveal himself as the spawn of the devil himself. With its striking and horrifying imagery and shocking twists, The Omen was a crown jewel of '70s horror and has continued as a franchise in various sequels, reboots, and now a prequel -- The First Omen.

Horror franchises rarely get laid to rest for long, but The First Omen is the newest movie in the series since the release of the 2006 remake, which failed to impress critics. A short-lived jaunt on TV also failed to reignite interest, but the prequel finally has a chance to re-invigorate the classic series by expanding upon the lore. Every Omen movie has its own strengths and weaknesses, and the new prequel benefits from hindsight, and can inject a bit of modern horror flare into the well-worn intellectual property. Even as new and original horror films dominate the box office, recognizable names like The Omen still go far.

The First Omen Latest News

An Exclusive Clip Is Revealed

As the release date for the new horror film creeps ever nearer, the latest news comes in the form of an exclusive clip from The First Omen. In a minute-long scene reminiscent of the original Omen film, the clip shows the usual hijinks of the kids interrupted by Sister Anjelica (Ishtar Currie-Wilson) who presumably plans to self-immolate in devotion to the demonic entity. Watch the terrifying clip below:

The First Omen Release Date

When Does The First Omen Come Out?

As announced in November 2023, The First Omen is set to release on April 5th, 2024. Horror movies tend to do well at all times of year, though an April release does bode well for The First Omen's box office chances. The new horror prequel is the only major movie to be announced for that weekend so far, and it narrowly misses future blockbuster Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire which is currently slated for an April 12th release. No matter where The First Omen is scheduled, it will likely be a creepy alternative to other movies screening at the time.

Who Is Making The First Omen?

Director, Producer, And Other Behind-The-Scenes Figures

The First Omen is being directed by newcomer Arkasha Stevenson who is perhaps best known for directing seven episodes of the horror anthology series Channel Zero. The film was co-written by Stevenson, Tim Smith, and Keith Thomas, who recently directed the Stephen King adaptation, Firestarter, in 2022. David S. Goyer serves as producer on The First Omen, and he is well-known for penning notable scripts for projects such as Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy.

The First Omen Cast

New And Returning Characters

Though several cast members have been announced for The First Omen, many haven't been assigned characters and little is known about who they'll be playing. Since it is a prequel, it can be assumed that many of the characters will be new, though a few returning figures are possible. The biggest name in the movie's cast so far is that of Bill Nighy (Love Actually), who has been tapped to play Father Lawrence. Nell Tiger Free (Game of Thrones) stars as Margaret, an American woman who is assigned to work at an orphanage in Rome before becoming a nun.

Ralph Ineson (The Witch) joins the cast of The First Omen as Father Brennan, the role originally played by Doctor Who alum Patrick Troughton in the 1976 film. Similarly, Father Spiletto will be played by Anton Alexander (Exodus: Gods and Kings), a role first played by Martin Benson. It is unclear whether other characters from the original film will be making an appearance. Other top-billed cast include:

The First Omen Story

What Happens In The First Omen?

It was disclosed all the way back in 2020 that The Omen prequel would reveal Damien's origins, but The First Omen has finally gotten an official synopsis which sounds equally chilling. The new movie will follow a young American woman (played by Nell Tiger Free in an as-yet-unnamed role) who travels to Rome to dedicate her life to the church as a nun. However, once she arrives, she begins to uncover a dark conspiracy that plans to bring about the birth of the antichrist.

Surprisingly, though The Omen has a slew of sequels and even a remake, none of them attempted to explain where Damien first came from or why. Nothing has been announced about whether Damien will even be in the movie, but since he is the titular antichrist, he will likely only appear briefly, and as a newborn infant. The story will have to be carried by the other characters, and it isn't clear exactly who Nell Tiger Free's main character will fit into the lore of the larger Omen series.

How The First Omen Connects To The Omen

The First Omen Is A Prequel To The Omen

Though details on exactly how the two films connect are rather scant, it can be gleaned that The First Omen will serve as a direct prequel to The Omen with very little space between them. Since 1976's The Omen was set in the present day at the time, The First Omen will likely take place a few years earlier, in the early 1970s. The plot of the new film concerns the birth of Damien, which could have only taken place a few years before the original movie, since he was a mere youngster in it.

The inclusion of characters like Father Brennan and Father Spiletto is the only direct link to the original film so far, since both of the priests featured heavily in the original film, including Brennan's gruesome death. The Omen is a supposedly cursed film, and it is unclear if that real-life "curse" will be factored into the story in some way or another. It is also unclear if the Thorns (originally played by Gregory Peck and Lee Remick) from the original film will be brought up at all during The First Omen.

The First Omen Trailer

Watch The Movie's Trailers Below

As the film's April 2024 release looms closer, a trailer for The First Omen has been released which offers fans their first real look at the terrifying new prequel. Relying heavily on stylistic atmosphere to create a creepy tone, the one-minute teaser introduces the birth of Damien as well as the demonic possession that will be the bulk of the film. Brief glimpses of Bill Nighy and Ralph Ineson are shown, but the bulk of the trailer expands upon Nell Tiger Free's role in the movie.

Months after the first teaser dropped, a full trailer for The First Omen was released which fleshes out the plot a bit more. In between creepy scenes of demonic possession and quite a bit of skin-crawling foreshadowing, the trailer introduces young Carlita. The orphan is shown to be ostracized by her fellow children, and she also has a creepy aura about her not unlike Damian's in the original film.