Was Candyman’s Ending Already Revealed?

Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as Anthony McCoy in Candyman 2020
(Image credit: (Universal))

Potential SPOILERS for the new Candyman are ahead!

Halloween season is just around the creepy corner, and here’s the hook: Nia DaCosta’s Candyman might be the most exciting new release to come out in the upcoming season. The plot of the film has been teased before in trailers, but a recent promotional photo from the film might have just confirmed a major plot point from the film’s ending?

Check out the cover of the new issue of Total Film Magazine below (this is your final warning if you want to go into Candyman fresh):

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Tony Todd has always been the man with the buzzing bees and slimy hook, but these new photos feature Aquaman and Watchmen star Yahya Abdul-Mateen II in the coat, even if the photo attempts to hide the intricacies of his facial features. While fans of the franchise certainly had suspicions about the actor taking over the Candyman mantle in the film, it seemed to be a plot detail better revealed during the film’s runtime, perhaps?

In the Candyman trailer, there are a few hints that point to Yahya Abdul-Mateen II’s character, a visual artist named Anthony McCoy, becoming the Candyman. Within the first trailer, there is even a split second where the Watchmen actor dons the brown cloak too. Take a look:

Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as Candyman

(Image credit: (Universal))

We know the movie directed by Captain Marvel 2 filmmaker Nia DaCosta will be a “spiritual sequel” to the original ‘90s classic and will involve Tony Todd’s Candyman as well. There’s a moment in the trailer where someone tells Abdul-Mateen’s Anthony that Candyman has “a purpose” for him to become “another one of his terrible stories.” He responds with saying that he found him, with a terrified look on his face. Check out the full trailer below:

Candyman takes place in the same neighborhood where Virginia Madsen’s Helen Lyle met the original Candyman back in 1992, but this time, the housing project has been gentrified and is infested with millennials. Anthony begins to delve into the origin story of Candyman during his project with Teyonah Parris’ Brianna, his partner and gallery director.

Although it's kind of a bummer that the studio didn’t wait to confirm our theories that Candyman will rise again through Yahya Abdul-Mateen II’s new role, there’s still a lot of questions left unanswered. Learning about how and why he could become Candyman, and how he will proceed once he does, will be interesting to witness. Will there be two Candymans or will Anthony kill off Tony Todd’s version? It’s all about the journey there, plus the way co-writer/director Nia DaCosta and writer/producer Jordan Peele present Candyman for the new era should be worth it as well.

Candyman is currently planned to come to theaters on October 16. Stay tuned here on CinemaBlend for more movie updates and check out our 2020 Release Calendar here.

Sarah El-Mahmoud
Staff Writer

Sarah El-Mahmoud has been with CinemaBlend since 2018 after graduating from Cal State Fullerton with a degree in Journalism. In college, she was the Managing Editor of the award-winning college paper, The Daily Titan, where she specialized in writing/editing long-form features, profiles and arts & entertainment coverage, including her first run-in with movie reporting, with a phone interview with Guillermo del Toro for Best Picture winner, The Shape of Water. Now she's into covering YA television and movies, and plenty of horror. Word webslinger. All her writing should be read in Sarah Connor’s Terminator 2 voice over.