Madelaine Petsch says goodbye to Maya as The Strangers – Chapter 3 opens Feb. 6

Madelaine Petsch says goodbye to Maya as The Strangers – Chapter 3, the final entry in Renny Harlin’s brutal three-film reboot, hits theaters Feb. 6, 2026, Petsch told MovieWeb. MovieWeb notes Harlin shot the trilogy back to back to back, an approach the piece likens to the scale of Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings.

Over three films, Petsch’s character endures escalating violence and extended stretches of nightmarish brutality. Petsch recalled some of the toughest production moments, including a boar fight filmed in Slovakia that had been slated for only a quarter of a day before the team fought to secure a half day: "having to rush all of that and get everything in with the physicality and all the emotions was so much pressure." She also described a motel sequence with people strapped to chairs in which another actress "committed that way the entire 19 hours." Petsch said she collaborated on the script to deepen Maya’s backstory and emotional arc.

"I think it was the framework of what they wanted ... the beginning, middle, and end of the story was there, but they really hadn't dived into the character at all," she told MovieWeb. She fought to keep a sewing-up scene that had been "originally an 11-minute scene. It was cut down to 45 seconds," and pushed for "two and a half minutes of this" so audiences could feel Maya’s discomfort and determination.

madelaine petsch interview, maya character arc, the strangers – chapter 3, the strangers trilogy, renny harlin director, shot back to back, feb 6 2026 release, movieweb interview, boar fight slovakia, motel chair sequence, sewing-up scene, courtney solomon producer, lionsgate, alan r. cohen writer, mark canton producer, rachel shenton cast, sheriff rotter character, resilience theme, nightmarish brutality scenes, peter jackson comparison, production slovakia shoot, alastair burlingham producer, charlie dombek producer, christopher milburn producer, gary raskin producer