M3GAN 2.0 hits theaters today, and the killer AI is back. This time, however, she is working with Cady and the gang to stop a new threat, Amilia, played by Ivanna Sakhno (Ahsoka). Like the Terminator franchise, when the first and second film went from sci-fi horror to sci-fi action, M3GAN is turning over a new leaf.

Gemma is a roboticist who created M3GAN. She paired the AI with her niece, Cady, hoping that things would get better. Helping her are fellow colleagues Tess and Cole, but things take a turn for the worse when M3GAN starts to kill. In the end, both Cady and Tess are able to put a stop to the killer robot.

In M3GAN 2.0, Jen Van Epps reprises her role as Tess, who survived the wrath of M3GAN.

“I would say it was great because again, she has more agency,” Epps tells Nerd Reactor. “Tess has more agency, and that’s all I want. I wanted her voice to expand because in Tess’s own right, she herself is a genius, inventor scientist. M3GAN doesn’t get created without the help of Tess and Cole, like full thought, she may have a PhD too, you know what I’m saying? She’s a smart little cookie. So for her to be able to kind of flex that muscle and let the world see that Tess is more than just the moral arbiter of the film is really juicy. And I love that for my girl Tess.”

The sequel’s scope is grander as it explores different locations, and the tone is different as it goes from horror to action-adventure.

“It was definitely shocking,” she said. “I think it was a surprise. I’m like, ‘Whoa, we went from making it like a two-room movie with two lights to a full-on action adventure of people scaling walls and doing crazy things.’ It was a welcome surprise and it’s funny. I think M3GAN defies genre point blank. Traditional horror is great, and there’s a place for that, but I think there’s also a place for film and concepts that are trailblazers. And I think M3GAN honestly is a trailblazing franchise.”

About M3GAN 2.0

Two years after M3GAN, a marvel of artificial intelligence, went rogue and embarked on a murderous (and impeccably choreographed) rampage and was subsequently destroyed, M3GAN’s creator Gemma (Allison Williams) has become a high-profile author and advocate for government oversight of A.I. Meanwhile, Gemma’s niece Cady (Violet McGraw), now 14, has become a teenager, rebelling against Gemma’s overprotective rules. 

Unbeknownst to them, the underlying tech for M3GAN has been stolen and misused by a powerful defense contractor to create a military-grade weapon known as Amelia (Ivanna Sakhno; Ahsoka, Pacific Rim: Uprising), the ultimate killer infiltration spy. But as Amelia’s self-awareness increases, she becomes decidedly less interested in taking orders from humans. Or in keeping them around. 

With the future of human existence on the line, Gemma realizes that the only option is to resurrect M3GAN (Amie Donald, voiced by Jenna Davis) and give her a few upgrades, making her faster, stronger, and more lethal. As their paths collide, the original A.I bitch is about to meet her match. 

Gerard Johnstone is back as the director. The film is produced by James Wan, Jason Blum and Allison Williams.

The film also stars Brian Jordan Alvarez, Aristotle Athari (Saturday Night Live, Hacks), Timm Sharp (Apples Never Fall, Percy Jackson and the Olympians) and Jemaine Clement (Avatar: The Way of Water, What We Do in the Shadows).