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Orphan: First Kill is a 2022 American psychological horror film directed by William Brent Bell, written by David Coggeshall, based on a story by David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick and Alex Mace. It is a prequel to the 2009 film Orphan. It stars Isabelle Fuhrman, Julia Stiles, Rossif Sutherland, Hiro Kanagawa, and Matthew Finlan. With the working title of Esther, the project was announced in February 2020. The official title was revealed in November that same year, with Fuhrman reprising her role as Esther. Filming took place in Winnipeg, Canada, from November to December 2020. Orphan: First Kill premiered first in other territories starting in the Philippines on July 27, 2022, and was released in the United States on August 19, by Paramount Pictures through the Paramount Players label in select theatres, digital, and streaming via Paramount+. The film has grossed $44 million worldwide and received mixed reviews from critics. Plot In January 2007, Estonian psychiatric patient Leena Klammer, a 31-year-old woman with a rare hormonal disorder called hypopituitarism that gives her the appearance of a 9-year-old child, orchestrates an escape from the Saarne Institute by seducing and killing a guard and hiding in the car of an art therapist named Anna. After breaking into Anna's house and killing her, Leena looks up missing American girls and finds that she bears a striking resemblance to Esther Albright, a girl from a rich family who went missing in 2003. Later, posing as a lost girl, Leena is approached by a Russian police officer and introduces herself as "Esther", claiming that her parents are in the United States. In Darien, Connecticut, wealthy artist Allen Albright and his wife Tricia, who has since come to terms with the disappearance of their daughter, are informed by Detective Donnan that "Esther" has been found. Tricia travels to the U.S. embassy in Moscow where she is "reunited" with Esther. Tricia brings Esther home and immediately starts to have doubts when she notices that Esther has forgotten about the death of her grandmother or that her painting skills have increased enormously compared to before she disappeared. Leena falls in love with Allen after they both start bonding over their painting skills, and tries to separate him from Tricia. While Tricia and Allen attend a charity gala hosted by Tricia, Donnan arrives at the house and steals a vinyl record from Esther's room which has Leena's fingerprints on it. He takes it back to his house, unaware that Leena has followed him, and analyzes the fingerprints to find it is not a match. Leena attacks Donnan and stabs him with a knife repeatedly, before Tricia arrives, having followed Leena. Instead of stopping Leena, Tricia opens fire on Donnan with a gun and kills him. Tricia reveals that she knows Leena is not Esther, who died four years earlier during an altercation with her older brother Gunnar, which Tricia covered up without Allen's knowledge. Tricia explains that she is only welcoming Leena to make Allen happy again and that if she refuses to cooperate, she would report her to the authorities for "murdering" Donnan. Leena reveals her true identity to Tricia, and the two then dispose of Donnan's body in a cellar hatch where the real Esther is buried and frame his disappearance as a vacation trip by forging an email to the police station. Tricia eventually terminates the deal but realizing that it would be too suspicious if "Esther" were to disappear again, Tricia and Gunnar pretend that Leena is still "Esther" in Allen's presence. Later, Tricia tries to poison Leena during dinner but Leena retaliates by feeding Tricia with a dead rat smoothie (the rat having died from eating Leena's poisoned food). She also attempts to push Tricia and Gunnar onto the railway tracks but is stopped by an incoming passenger. With Allen away at an art gallery exhibition, Leena tries fleeing by stealing Tricia's car, but she is soon found by a police officer. That night, Leena is brought back to the Albright house and Tricia and Gunnar finally decide to kill Leena for good. Tricia tries to stage a suicide, but Leena fights back and flees before Gunnar throws her down the stairs. Distracted by a phone call from Allen, who is returning home, Tricia and Gunnar search for Leena when she disappears. Gunnar eventually finds Leena in the art room but Leena shoots Gunnar with a crossbow and then stabs him to death with his fencing sword. An enraged Tricia and Leena fight in the kitchen, inadvertently setting the house alight in the process, and the pair flee to the roof as Allen returns home. Tricia and Leena both slip and end up clinging to the roof, begging Allen to save them, with Leena claiming Tricia attacked her, and Tricia trying to reveal the truth about Leena. Unable to save both of them, Allen chooses to help "Esther", causing Tricia to lose her grip and fall to her death. Allen then checks Leena's face, which causes her fake teeth to fall out. Realizing she is not Esther, Leena tries to defend herself by saying she did it for them and also confesses her love for him. Allen calls her a monster, causing an enraged Leena to accidentally push him off the roof. Leena then again dresses herself as Esther and leaves the burning house after cleaning off the blood on her face. Later, "Esther" is moved to an orphanage where she waits for a new family to adopt her. Cast Production Development In February 2020, a prequel to Orphan (2009) with the working title of Esther, was announced as being in development, an international co-production between the United States and Canada. William Brent Bell was hired as director, with a screenplay by David Coggeshall, from an original story co-written by David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick and Alex Mace. The project was announced as a joint-venture production between eOne, Dark Castle Entertainment, Sierra/Affinity, and Eagle Vision. Johnson-McGoldrick also served as executive producer, while Alex Mace, Hal Sadoff, Ethan Erwin, and James Tomlinson were hired as producers. In November 2020, the film's official title was announced as Orphan: First Kill, with Isabelle Fuhrman reprising her role as Esther, and Julia Stiles and Rossif Sutherland joining the cast as co-stars. Isabelle Fuhrman later revealed that she played a key role in the project's green light following a real-life adoption scandal. In 2014, Indiana couple Kristine and Michael Barnett were charged with child abandonment of their then-nine-year-old foster child with dwarfism, Natalia Grace, two years earlier by claiming her to secretly be an adult and by changing her legal age to 22. The case received widespread media attention in 2019 when the Barnetts confirmed they had been inspired to abandon Grace after watching Orphan. Fuhrman stated that she was contacted by a large number of people regarding its eerie similarities to Orphan. As this was going on, she stated that she contacted Johnson-McGoldrick regarding the potential for a fo.... Discover the Josh Sadoff popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Josh Sadoff books.