With STX Entertainment opening their evil doll horror sequel Brahms: The Boy II this weekend, director William Brent Bell is now anticipated to direct Esther, a prequel to Warner Bros.’ 2009 horror picture Orphan. Filming is expected to start in the third quarter.

Bell also directed the first The Boy for STX. He is also currently working on supernatural thriller Separation. His other credits extend to The Devil Inside, Wer and Stay Alive. 

Written by David Coggeshall, this prequel will reveal the history of Leena Klammer, who adopts the guise of Esther. The narrative will show Leena, actually an older woman suffering from hypopituitarism conditions that made her look like a child, escape from a Russian psychiatric facility and travel to America as an orphan, impersonating the missing daughter of a wealthy family. But Leena’s new life as Esther comes to a devastating twist when she’d pitted against a mother determined to protect her family from the seemingly unsuspecting intruder.