Madelaine Petsch is still two Strangers films shy of rounding out her trilogy with director Renny Harlin, but she nearly departed – for good – due to one particular Strangers: Chapter 1 stunt.
“In movie 1, when the ax goes through the door, that’s not effects, that’s practical,” Petsch tells Entertainment Weekly Executive Editor Samantha Highfill at the EW Studio at 2025 San Diego Comic-Con.
Petsch visited the annual celebration of all things fan culture to promote the The Strangers: Chapter 2, which picks up where Chapter 1 left off — with Petsch’s Maya seemingly saved from the titular Strangers’ demented attack, but with the menacing Scarecrow still hunting her down. She promises even more slashing, slaying, blood-splattered goodness in the sequel, but can’t quite get Chapter 1‘s ax swing out of her head.
John Armour/Lionsgate
“Watching them digest watching me digest, like, ‘Your head’s going to be here, just don’t move it, and the ax is going to go through the door,” Petsch says, smiling wide with survivor’s relief.
Petsch credits one crew member with the stunt being executed flawlessly. “I had so much faith in [Vladimir Orlov], our stunt coordinator,” she says. “I probably should have been like, ‘No,’ but I was like, ‘Yeah, for sure! thats totally fine!'”
The 30-year-old Port Orchard, Wash., native is best known for her time on Riverdale. Petsch played Cheryl “Bombshell” Blossom, a spoiled, mercurial, ultra-fashionable, manipulative, yet enterprising and good-hearted cheerleader for the full seven-season run. On Riverdale, Petsch endured enough hardship, adversity, and homicide attempts to last several lifetimes. Her character survived a group seizure, being sent to a gay conversion camp, blackmail from one of her best friends (Lili Reinhart’s Betty Cooper), and a full season in which she was trapped in a cult.
Still, she counts the Strangers: Chapter 1 ax swing among her scariest on-set experiences. “I probably should have thought harder to save my own life,” she jokes. “That actually tells you what my survival skills would be like as a human being, like, ‘Hit me in the head with an ax, whatever!'”
John Armour/Lionsgate
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Petsch also teases what fans can expect from the new Strangers trilogy’s bloody second chapter.
“I think it’s exciting for fans that loved the original 2008 Bryan Bertino version,” she says. “We had to make the first movie similar to that film just to create a launchpad into the craziness that will ensue for movies 2 and 3.”
Watch Petsch’s full interview in the livestream above.
Check out more of EW’s coverage from San Diego Comic-Con 2025 here
