Is Onslaught A Sequel To The Guest? How They're Connected & The Movie Trilogy They're A Part Of

Published Sep 4, 2026, 10:30 AM EDT

Shawn S. Lealos is an entertainment writer who is a voting member of the Oklahoma Film Critics Circle. He has written for Screen Rant,  CBR, ComicBook, The Direct, The Sportster, Chud, 411mania, Renegade Cinema, Yahoo Movies, and many more.
 

Shawn has a bachelor's degree in professional writing and a minor in film studies from the University of Oklahoma. He also has won numerous awards, including several Columbia Gold Circle Awards and an SPJ honor.

He also wrote Dollar Deal: The Story of the Stephen King Dollar Baby Filmmakers, the first official book about the Dollar Baby film program. Shawn is also currently writing his first fiction novel under a pen name, based in the fantasy genre.

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Onslaught hit theaters this weekend, and for director Adam Wingard, the movie might seem very similar to another movie he made over a decade ago. Before he hit it big by directing box office behemoths Godzilla vs. Kong (2021) and Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (2024), he was directing more personal movies. In fact, he called the last two movies he directed before being hired to helm Hollywood blockbusters to be the ones that say the most about him.

Those movies were You're Next and The Guest. You're Next is a slasher movie that turns the entire genre on its head. In that film, masked killers arrive at a remote home and start to kill the people there before one survivor turns the tables on them and becomes more relentless than the killers themselves. The Guest is about an unassuming soldier named David who turns out to be a ruthless killer himself.

Wingard compared both of those films to his new movie. In Onslaught, a former military sniper lives in a trailer park with her young daughter. When three brutal super soldiers arrive in town and start killing everyone there, she gets her guns out and prepares to defend her daughter from these killing machines. The movie has a lot in common with both You're Next and The Guest.

Dan Stevens' Onslaught Character Is Different From The Guest

One of the biggest connections between Onslaught and The Guest is one actor. In The Guest, Dan Stevens plays David Collins, a soldier who turns out to be a ruthless killer. However, he is not in control of his actions, as he was mentally brainwashed to kill anyone who discovers his identity as a government-created super soldier, and he does so without hesitation. It is up to two kids to stop him when he starts murdering everyone around them.

Stevens is back in Onslaught, but it is as a very different character. Instead of a seemingly unstoppable super soldier, he is a scientist named Dr. Hans Kammler, the man in charge of a program that turns American soldiers deemed unable to rejoin society into unstoppable killing machines. In The Guest, he was the programmed soldier, and in Onslaught, he is the creator of the super soldiers.

Despite Dan Stevens returning in a very different role, Onslaught and The Guest do exist in the same universe. In The Guest, there is one unassuming super soldier who is brainwashed to kill people to hide his identity, and in Onslaught, three super soldiers are programmed to be unstoppable killing machines sent to disrupt any community they enter. All of these soldiers were created under similar programs.

In The Guest, David is an uncontrollable super soldier who is the product of illegal medical experiments conducted by KPG. The three soldiers from Onslaught escaped after a botched experiment at a KPG facility. Wingard himself said that the group that created the villains in both movies is part of the same organization, but in different branches. Wingard also said that Stevens' new character, Kammler, is what the K in KPG stands for, as he was the founder.

Onslaught Is Also Connected To You're Next

Image via A24

Interestingly, Onslaught is also connected to You're Next. However, in this case, it is more of a spiritual successor. Both movies are about one woman who has to fight back against overwhelming odds and show that she is as deadly, if not deadlier, than the killers terrorizing her. In You're Next, the woman turns the tables on the home invaders, and in Onslaught, the woman guns down these super soldiers.

In fact, Wingard said that You're Next, The Guest, and Onslaught are a thematic trilogy. He admits there are things viewers can read between the lines and tie them all together. While this is easy to see with The Guest, the themes of You're Next and Onslaught are also strong, allowing the director a chance to get back to his roots after a few years of major studio movies.