‘A Quiet Place Part III’: Cillian Murphy and Jack O’Connell Play Brothers, and Everything Else We Know
Emmett just got a family of his own. Jack O’Connell, fresh off Sinners and the 28 Years Later films, says he plays Cillian Murphy’s brother in A Quiet Place Part III. In a new interview with Collider, O’Connell described a set that felt genuinely familial, which is fitting for a franchise that has always been about families trying to survive in silence. Paramount hasn’t officially confirmed the relationship, so consider it straight from the actor rather than the studio.
It’s the first real look inside a sequel that has been carefully kept under wraps since cameras rolled this spring. So let’s gather everything we actually know: who’s in it, when it’s coming, how the franchise has performed so far, and what O’Connell’s reveal might tell us about where John Krasinski is taking the story.
Brothers in a world without sound
Murphy is returning as Emmett, the grieving, hard-shelled survivor he introduced in 2021’s A Quiet Place Part II. Emmett was an old friend of the Abbott family who had lost his own wife and sons, and who reluctantly became a protector to Regan when she set out on her own. He was the emotional surprise of that film, a man who had given up on everyone and slowly found a reason to care again.
Giving Emmett a brother opens up a lot of story. Part II told us almost nothing about his life before the invasion, so a sibling could fill in his past, test his loyalty, or bring a very different philosophy about how to survive. Cast descriptions have also listed O’Connell’s character as a National Guardsman, which hints at a more organized, military side of this world than we’ve seen before. Neither detail has been confirmed by Paramount, and we don’t know whether the brothers are on the same side.
The full cast
Krasinski announced his lineup on Instagram in March, and it mixes the original family with some very interesting new faces:
- Emily Blunt returns as Evelyn Abbott, who is now leading what’s left of her family as they search for other survivors.
- Millicent Simmonds is back as Regan, the deaf daughter whose cochlear implant became humanity’s best weapon against the creatures.
- Noah Jupe returns as her brother, Marcus.
- Cillian Murphy returns as Emmett.
- Jack O’Connell joins as Emmett’s brother, according to O’Connell.
- Katy O’Brian ( Love Lies Bleeding ) and Jason Clarke ( Pet Sematary ) join in undisclosed roles.
- Alex Wolff reprises Reuben, the hospice nurse from A Quiet Place: Day One , which is the first sign that the prequel and the main saga are being tied together.
That Wolff connection is a big deal. Reuben died during the New York invasion in Day One , so his return suggests flashbacks or some other link between the night everything fell apart and the Abbotts’ present-day story.
Catch up before Part III
There’s no trailer for Part III yet, and there likely won’t be until 2027. If you want to refresh your memory on where Emmett and the Abbotts left off, here’s the official final trailer for Part II :
And since Reuben is coming back, here’s the official trailer for A Quiet Place: Day One , the 2024 prequel set in New York City:
Krasinski is back in the director’s chair
John Krasinski at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival. Photo: Gabriel Hutchinson / WikiPortraits, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Krasinski directed the first two films, and Paramount confirmed in August 2025 that he’d write, direct and produce the third himself. It’s his first time back since Part II ; Michael Sarnoski took over for Day One , which starred Lupita Nyong’o and Joseph Quinn and moved the action to Manhattan.
Emily Blunt said back in 2021 that the series was always meant to be a trilogy, so Part III is expected to feel like the conclusion of the Abbott family’s story. Michael Bay, Andrew Form and Brad Fuller produce through Platinum Dunes alongside Krasinski’s Sunday Night Productions, and the characters still trace back to the original idea from writers Bryan Woods and Scott Beck. Arnau Valls Colomer is shooting the film.
Production began in May 2026. Early in the shoot, Murphy, Simmonds, O’Connell and Clarke were already working while Blunt joined a little later, after promoting The Devil Wears Prada 2 and Disclosure Day.
When it comes out
A Quiet Place Part III opens in U.S. theaters on July 30, 2027 . Paramount originally had it on July 9, then pushed it back three weeks. That makes it the first film in the series to open in the heart of summer blockbuster season. The original opened in April, Part II in late May and Day One in late June, so the studio keeps moving these movies later and treating them as bigger events.
By the numbers
This is one of the most consistent franchises in modern horror. According to The Numbers, the three films have earned about $894 million worldwide combined:
- A Quiet Place (2018): $17 million budget, $50.2 million opening, $188 million domestic, $334.9 million worldwide.
- A Quiet Place Part II (2021): $61 million budget, $47.5 million opening, $160.2 million domestic, $297.5 million worldwide, released while theaters were still recovering from the pandemic.
- A Quiet Place: Day One (2024): $67 million budget, $52.2 million opening, $139.1 million domestic, $261.9 million worldwide.
Day One actually had the biggest opening weekend of the three, despite having none of the original cast. It earned a B+ CinemaScore, and Variety reported that more than half of its opening crowd was 18 to 34, with nearly 40% of domestic sales coming from premium screens like IMAX.
What this really means
Look closely at those numbers and you’ll see two stories at once. Openings have stayed remarkably steady, landing around $50 million every time. Total grosses, though, have slipped with each film, from $335 million to $298 million to $262 million worldwide, while budgets have nearly quadrupled. The audience shows up on opening weekend every time; the challenge is getting them to keep coming back.
That pattern is exactly what has sunk other horror franchises. Paranormal Activity , Insidious and much of the Conjuring universe saw returns shrink as sequels and spinoffs piled up. A Quiet Place has held up far better than those series, but Paramount clearly knows that a third direct sequel has to feel like an event, not just another chapter.
That’s where this cast comes in. Murphy is now an Oscar winner after Oppenheimer , and he has his own horror pedigree going back to 28 Days Later. O’Connell is coming off two of the most talked-about genre films of the past two years. Bringing back Reuben from Day One pulls the prequel’s audience into the main story too. Add the late-July slot, and Paramount is plainly building Part III as a summer tentpole meant to end the trilogy on a high.
The brother reveal also fits the series’ formula. Every film has used a family under pressure to make the monster stuff hit harder: the Abbotts in the first two, a woman and her cat (and Reuben) in Day One. Giving Emmett a sibling turns the lone survivor into another family story, which is the emotional engine these movies run on.
What we still don’t know
- The plot. Beyond Evelyn leading her family in search of other survivors, the story is under lock and key.
- The title. Paramount is still calling it A Quiet Place Part III , but that could change.
- Who Katy O’Brian and Jason Clarke are playing.
- Whether Emmett’s brother is an ally or a threat.
- When we’ll see a trailer. With a late-July 2027 release, a first teaser is most likely sometime in early 2027.
The bottom line
With Krasinski back in charge, Blunt leading the family, and Murphy and O’Connell playing brothers, A Quiet Place Part III is shaping up to be the biggest swing the series has taken. The franchise has proven it can open; now it has to prove it can stick the landing.
What do you want from the final chapter: a full-on war against the creatures, or another small, terrifying family story?
Header photo: Cillian Murphy at Berlinale 2024 by Elena Ternovaja, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped with text added.
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