Behaviour might have appeased Dead By Daylight fans for a short while with the release of the Alien Chapter in August. However, as it nears November, Chapter 30 is on the horizon, according to the Dead by Daylight Year 8 Roadmap. Rather than the usual Killer, Survivor, and new Map, Chapter 30 will only feature a solo killer—the first one since Chapter 21: Hellraiser.
The next regular Chapter isn’t expected until early 2024, so that leaves room for speculation as to what the next Chapter could entail. Behaviour seems to be on a winning streak with licensed characters lately, so there’s a strong possibility that the solo killer is an OC whereas the upcoming 2024 Chapter would be another beloved franchise like Alien.
With that in mind, let’s see which franchises could make the cut.
The Conjuring
Especially after The Nun II teased The Conjuring 4, it’s been a long time coming for Ed and Lorraine Warren to join Dead By Daylight as Survivors with the demon nun Valak as their corresponding Killer. We’re still brainstorming what the Map could be, but the murky streets of Enfield or the Warren house might be a safe bet.
Although Ed and Lorraine aren’t present in The Nun, another possibility would be in The Abbey of St. Carta, where Frenchie first discovers Sister Victoria, who died by suicide after being pursued by Valak at the beginning of the movie.
Friday the 13th
Once it was announced that Gun Media’s license for Friday the 13th was due to expire at the end of 2023 and the game’s servers would be shutting down in 2024, everyone abandoned ship in favor of the new Texas Chain Saw Massacre game. There was also that whole rigamarole with the copyright lawsuit case between the original film’s director/producer Sean S. Cunningham and screenwriter Victor Miller. In the end, the Judge ruled in favor of Miller and the case was closed. That means that new content is expected to drop in the future, including a film reboot, a video game reboot, and maybe a Dead By Daylight Chapter?
The Exorcist
The Exorcist franchise has laid dormant since the ’70s and Linda Blair is now 64 years old, but that shouldn’t stop Dead By Daylight from bringing the character of Regan to their servers. It would make a lot more sense for Regan to be the Killer as opposed to the Survivor, similar to Sadako.
As for the Survivor, there are a number of options, but Father Damien seems the most probable. Especially as The Exorcist: Believer comes out in October, the franchise has seen a resurgence of interest lately, so now’s the perfect time to capitalize on the hype.
Resident Evil 7
It might seem counter-intuitive to release yet another Resident Evil Chapter, especially after Nemesis, Jill, and Leon kicked things off and then Project W introduced Albert Wesker, Ada Wong, and Rebecca Chambers, but hear us out. Resident Evil 7 is by far one of the most influential and commended installments in the entire franchise—and for good reason. Ethan Winters has become a fan-favorite in recent years and the Baker family, specifically Jack and Marguerite, are downright terrifying. The incessant need for Ethan as a Survivor and Jack/Marguerite as Killer(s) might never end until we get what we want.
Five Nights at Freddy’s
There’s no disputing the impact Five Nights at Freddy’s has made on the gaming industry, more importantly in the indie-horror realm. Scott Cawthon couldn’t have predicted that his low-budget first-person horror game would be getting a live-action feature film adaptation almost 10 years after its release, but here we are.
And that’s not all, Five Nights at Freddy’s boasts eight sequels and numerous spin-offs to boot. It isn’t hard to imagine Freddy stomping around in Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria (the only option for a Map) and chasing down Mike Schmidt.
IT
Another highly requested Chapter is IT, featuring Pennywise the Dancing Clown. Now, we’d have to be careful not to pull a Ghostbusters and cross the streams here, since there’s already DBD‘s own Clown Killer to compete with. However, the quaint town of Derry is an ideal location for a Map and Pennywise would give grown men the heebie jeebies.
The only issue would be the Survivors, as Dead By Daylight doesn’t condone violence against children, hence why Stranger Things features teenage Survivors Steve and Nancy as opposed to Mike or Eleven. It would need to be the Loser Club’s adult selves in IT: Chapter Two.
Candyman
Don’t say his name five times, otherwise, he might appear in Dead By Daylight. Besides the fact that there isn’t enough ethnic diversity in the DBD Killer roster, Candyman is a living legend in the horror genre.
His movie earned a reboot sequel in 2021 and Tony Todd’s iconic slasher villain would make for some interesting powers, especially for those of us who are petrified of wasps. The Survivor, obviously, would be Helen Lyle, and we’d assume the Map would be Candyman’s dwellings, where he takes Helen to be sacrificed.
The Thing
John Carpenter already has one successful franchise in DBD with Halloween, but what’s the harm in adding another? It might be from 1982, but The Thing has withstood the test of time as one of horror’s greatest ventures—from one of the genre’s most beloved filmmakers.
Even with ’80s-style special effects, The Thing is nightmarish. This one might be trickier to bring to life technical-wise, but Kurt Russell’s R.J. as the Survivor is exactly the match-up we need to see. With some thought-out concept art and a dedicated team to craft the ins and outs of the mechanics, this could work. All it takes is a little persistence and passion.
