The original final girl of theTexas Chainsaw Massacrefranchise is finally getting a rematch with the man they call Leatherface. In the original movie directed by Tobe Hooper and released in 1974, young Sally Hardesty (Marilyn Burns) just barely managed to escape with her life in the haunting horror’s final moments thanks to a passing motorist in a pickup truck. Clearly upset about letting the kill get away, Leatherface (Gunnar Hansen) can then be seen swinging the saw around like a madman in one of the movie’s most memorable shots.
For better or for worse, Sally didn’t appear in any of the sequels. The opening narration ofThe Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2would state that she had since been locked up in a mental asylum, while the third installment’s opening title cards went a step further by noting she had died. Marilyn Burns would later cameo as different characters in the unconnected sequelsTexas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next GenerationandTexas Chainsaw 3D, but Sally was long gone. Unlike Jamie Lee Curtis in theHalloweenseries, Leatherface’s first would-be victim that got away would never have another encounter with the murderer.
That changes withNetflix’sTexas Chainsaw Massacrereboot.An official plot synopsis has been released for the movie, and it specifically names Sally Hardesty as a main character, and the role seems reminiscent of JLC’s returned Laurie Strode in Blumhouse’sHalloweenmovies. As Marilyn Burns sadly passed away in 2014, the role has been recast with Olwen Fouéré. This older Sally is described as “seeking revenge” against Leatherface after killing her friends decades ago. you may read the synopsis below.
“Melody (Sarah Yarkin), her teenage sister Lila (Elsie Fisher), and their friends Dante (Jacob Latimore) and Ruth (Nell Hudson), head to the remote town of Harlow, Texas to start an idealistic new business venture. But their dream soon turns into a waking nightmare when they accidentally disrupt the home of Leatherface, the deranged serial killer whose blood-soaked legacy continues to haunt the area’s residents — including Sally Hardesty (Olwen Fouéré), the sole survivor of his infamous 1973 massacre who’s hell-bent on seeking revenge.”
The synopsis also suggests that this new installment ignores all of the previous sequels and reboots, acknowledging only the originalTexas Chainsaw Massacreby Tobe Hooper and Kim Henkel. OriginalLeatherfaceactor Gunnar Hansen has also passed away, otherwise producer Fede Alvarez says they would have liked to bring him back as well. Of casting Mark Burnham (Lowlife), Alvarez told Entertainment Weekly, “It was quite a search. Gunnar Hansen passed away. If Gunnar had been alive, I’m pretty sure he would have played [the part], so we were trying to find someone that could have been Gunnar today. We tried to find the best next thing. When [Burnham] showed up, we definitely felt like, ‘This is the guy.’ He had all the physicality we needed from him on camera. He has such an imposing figure.”
Texas Chainsaw Massacrewill start streaming on Netflix on Jun 25, 2025. For a taste of what’s to come, you can check out a first look teaser trailer below. This news comes to us fromScreen Rant.
