How 'Orphan: First Kill' Connects to the Original Movie (2024)

If in 2009, you had nightmares about 9-year-old Esther (played by then 11-year-old Isabelle Fuhrman) in Orphan, they might just be becoming a reality.

Esther is back in Orphan: First Kill and more haunting than ever. And Fuhrman, who is now 25, has reprised her role as 9-year-old Esther, giving the movie an extra eerie twist.

To get back into character, Fuhrman did not undergo any de-aging work. and there is no computer generated imagery. Fuhrman told Newsweek that there were a lot of "forced perspective and camera tricks and lighting tricks."

So, how exactly does Orphan: First Kill connect to the original 2009 movie Orphan? Newsweek has everything you need to know.

How Does Orphan: First Kill Connect to the Original Movie?

Orphan: First Kill is a stand-alone movie. None of the characters from 2009's Orphan, such as her adoptive parents Kate (played by Vera Farmiga) and John Coleman (Peter Sarsgaard), appear in the film.

Orphan: First Kill is a prequel, delving into how Esther became the person who joined the Coleman family in Orphan.

First Kill begins 13 years earlier than Orphan when Esther escaped from Saarne, an Estonian asylum, and arrived in the U.S.

Orphan audiences know Esther's real identity is Leena Klammer, a 33-year-old woman who suffers from a rare hormone disorder, which causes her to look much younger than her real age. This prequel begins in Estonia where she is diagnosed with her condition.

In First Kill, Esther makes her way to America by pretending to be Esther Albright, the missing daughter of the wealthy married couple, Tricia (Julia Stiles) and Allen Albright (Rossif Sutherland). During her escape, she kills one of the guards, but her kills later on are more personal.

Esther/Leena immerses herself in the innocent family, tearing them apart and ultimately committing her "first kill."

From the moment she joins her "family" in the U.S., Tricia, her mother, is instantly suspicious that Esther is not her real daughter, once again pitting mother against a daughter; but, compared with Kate Coleman from Orphan, Tricia has a lot more control.

Esther's therapist tells Tricia and Allen that working with her "felt like a performance." Inspector Donnan (Hiro Kanagawa) is also convinced that Esther is not really who she said she is and eventually uncovers her true identity using DNA evidence.

First Kill ends in a similar fashion to the original: At the end of Orphan, Esther is killed by Kate, but in an alternate ending shown in the first film, Esther survives, puts her fake teeth back in and ribbons on, and she walks out of the Coleman house.

As it turns out, Tricia has known that Esther was not her daughter: Her real daughter Esther had been killed by her brother Gunnar as a child, and to prevent him from going to prison, Tricia pretended to everyone that Esther had gone missing.

Once Tricia's secret is revealed, Esther/Leena takes matters into her own hands, killing Gunnar (Matthew Finlan) and attempting to kill Tricia so as to be with her adoptive father, Allen.

Allen, who is overjoyed to have his daughter back, does not believe Tricia's claims about Esther. He realizes his mistake too late and loses his entire family in the process. When he rejects Esther's advances, she kills him.

Esther then assumes her new identity as an orphan and is seen in an adoption agency.

As in the alternate end of Orphan, First Kill ends with Esther alive and being placed with an adoption agency that promises to find her new home, and it is clear what family home she is heading to next.

Orphan: First Kill is streaming on Paramount+ and is out in selected theaters now.