Horror lover Elijah Wood plays devil's advocate in 'Ready or Not 2'

Elijah Wood stars in \

Elijah Wood is one of the few people in the horror comedy sequel “Ready or Not 2: Here I Come” who doesn’t get stabbed, shot, blown up into gooey pieces, have a bazooka aimed at them or otherwise marked for death. Instead, he’s too busy making sure everybody’s playing a very twisted game right.

Wood is no stranger to franchises, as brave Frodo in the “Lord of the Rings” movies and very weird Walter in Showtime’s popular “Yellowjackets," and was a big fan of the crowd-pleasing 2019 hit “Ready or Not.” “The third act of that film is so satisfying,” says the actor, who has become a familiar face in scary movies and a champion of them with his production company SpectreVision.

The sequel (in theaters now) picks up exactly where the previous one left off. Newlywed Grace (Samara Weaving) survives an insane night when her powerful new in-laws try to sacrifice her to their devilish benefactor, Mr. Le Bail, in a deadly round of hide-and-seek. But the fact that she gets out alive begins a whole new game: The Council of families that control the world have to figure out a new High Seat, and either one of those family’s members kills Grace or Grace herself gets the power if she survives again.

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Wood, 45, is an “incredibly mysterious” character known as the Lawyer, an advocate for Mr. Le Bail, who rather than actively participating, “makes sure everyone's following the rules,” Wood says. “But the stakes don't apply to him. Certainly not the life-and-death stakes. It was something we talked a lot about, like: Who actually is this guy? Has he been doing this for centuries? Is he immortal? What is his relationship to Mr. Le Bail, and how long has he been sort of presiding over the Council? Don't have any definitive answer, but it was something I was thinking about a lot.”