Kathryn Newton had trouble keeping her composure when she learned she would be sharing the screen with Sarah Michelle Gellar.
Newton took part in an onstage conversation at CCXP in São Paulo, Brazil, on Sunday, where she discussed her projects past and present, which included the forthcoming Ready or Not 2: Here I Come. The actress joins Samara Weaving as the leads in the second installment of Searchlight Pictures’ horror-comedy franchise, with directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett‘s new feature hitting theaters April 10, 2026.
“I just wanted to say thank you for looking at the trailer because it was the No. 1 trailer for Searchlight of all time,” Newton told the crowd. “It means a lot to all of us who made the movie.”
She also recalled her stunned reaction upon learning during a rehearsal that Gellar, whom she admired while growing up, would co-star with her in the film. “We shot the movie in Toronto, and I was doing rehearsal with Samara and Matt and Tyler, the directors,” Newton said. “I saw Sarah Michelle Gellar’s photo on the wall and I was like, ‘She’s in the movie?’ They were like, ‘Yeah, we just got her yesterday.’ And I literally fell on the floor because Buffy the Vampire Slayer is a huge inspiration of mine.”
Newton also expressed her appreciation that Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett wrote Ready or Not 2 with her in mind after they directed the actress in last year’s vampire flick Abigail. “They called me after Abigail came out, and they were like, ‘We told you we were going to work with you again. We wrote Ready or Not 2, and you’re the girl.’ I was screaming and crying and rolling on the floor because they wrote it for me.”
Ready or Not 2 sees Weaving reprise her role as Grace MacCaullay, as she tries to survive a game in which wealthy families compete to kill her. Newton, who plays Grace’s estranged younger sister, Faith, is grateful for the connection she shared with her co-star.
“Honestly, she’s the coolest girl in the world,” Newton said of Weaving. “She’s way cooler than me. She’s so beautiful. She’s so down-to-earth that you don’t even understand. She likes video games.”
In fact, Weaving — who is married to Cocaine Bear writer Jimmy Warden — even helped Newton with finding possible romance. “She helps with boys,” Newton revealed. “She actually texted for me one time. She flirted with a boy for me, and it went really well. And then I blew it.”
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