Joko Anwar’s ‘Satan’s Slaves: Origin’ Heads to TIFF Market With Barunson E&A Launching International Sales

Joko Anwar returns to his Satan’s Slaves universe with Origin, a centuries-spanning prequel exploring the source of the franchise’s demonic curse. / Barunson E&A

Joko Anwar is heading back to the world of Satan’s Slaves, but the next installment will take the Indonesian horror franchise centuries into the past.

Barunson E&A, the South Korean studio behind Bong Joon Ho’s Parasite, has boarded Satan’s Slaves: Origin for worldwide sales and will introduce the project to international buyers at the Toronto International Film Festival’s inaugural market this September.

Originally titled Pengabdi Setan 3: Origin, the film marks the third entry in Anwar’s modern Satan’s Slaves series. Rather than continuing directly from the previous films, however, Origin is being developed as a standalone prequel exploring the beginnings of the cult and demonic pact at the center of the franchise.

The story will begin in 16th-century Strasbourg during an outbreak of mass hysteria inspired by the Dancing Plague of 1518. From there, the film moves to a haunted lighthouse on the southern coast of Java during the 17th century, expanding the mythology beyond the settings established in the previous installments.

The production is described as the most ambitious of Anwar’s career, spanning two continents and incorporating seven languages: Indonesian, Alsatian, Portuguese, Javanese, Dutch, Turkish and Latin.

“This film is everything I didn’t know I was building toward, the one that finally answers where the curse came from, why it never stopped, and what it’s really after,” Anwar said. “Longtime fans are going to get the answers they’ve waited years for. Newcomers are going to get the ride of their lives.”

Anwar will write and direct the prequel, with Rapi Films producing. Come and See Pictures, Sky Media and Legacy Pictures are co-producing. The project is currently in pre-production and targeting a 2027 theatrical release in Indonesia.

The Satan’s Slaves name has a history in Indonesian horror stretching back decades. Rapi Films produced the original Satan’s Slaves in 1980, which subsequently developed a cult following.

Anwar revived the property with his 2017 Satan’s Slaves, which became a major domestic box-office success. He followed it with Satan’s Slaves: Communion in 2022, which became the first Indonesian film released in IMAX and remains among the country’s six highest-grossing local films.

Origin will now push that mythology significantly further back in time, using its prequel structure to explore the events behind the supernatural forces that eventually shaped the stories of the first two films.

The international sales deal also continues Anwar’s two-year exclusive partnership with Barunson E&A. Their previous collaboration, horror-comedy Ghost in the Cell, premiered at the Berlin Film Festival and has drawn more than 3.3 million admissions in Indonesia. The film has sold into 150 territories, with Well Go USA acquiring North American rights and Plaion handling Germany.

“Every time we work with Joko Anwar, the scale gets bigger and the ambition gets sharper,” Barunson E&A CEO Choi Yoonhee said. “Satan’s Slaves: Origin is unlike anything he’s made, a story that moves across centuries and continents.”

The acquisition also expands Barunson E&A’s growing portfolio of Asian genre projects. The company has boarded Banjong Pisanthanakun’s Inherit, Indonesian zombie thriller Zona Merah: Dead City and Korean occult film Stoneborn, which comes from the filmmakers behind Exhuma.

With Satan’s Slaves: Origin, Anwar is returning to one of the properties most closely associated with the contemporary rise of Indonesian horror while approaching it from a different historical perspective. Moving between Europe and Java across the 16th and 17th centuries gives the filmmaker an opportunity to establish how the franchise’s central curse began long before the events audiences already know.

Barunson E&A will launch international sales for Satan’s Slaves: Origin at the TIFF market this September. Production is currently in development ahead of a planned 2027 theatrical release in Indonesia.