Knock At The Cabin's Abby Quinn Waited 14 Years For The Horror Role

M. Night Shyamalan is a fellow of many talents. 25 years after his breakout success "The Sixth Sense" and the man can still throw a curveball like nobody's business, as evidenced by the twisty premise for his upcoming Josh Hartnett vehicle "Trap" (watch the trailer). The maestro of low-budget horror-driven thrillers also has a knack for sending Film Twitter (fine, yes, I suppose we gotta call it Film X now, ugh) into a frenzy with his boldly divisive work, with 2023's "Knock at the Cabin" being but the latest example.

Adapted from Paul G. Tremblay's 2018 novel "The Cabin at the End of the World," Shyamalan's entry in the tradition of cabin-based horror movies follows a small family — two dads and their young daughter — as their vacation is interrupted by a group of home invaders (played by Dave Bautista, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Abby Quinn, and Ronald Bilius Weasley himself, Rupert Grint). As it turns out, these strangers might just be the actual Horsemen of the Apocalypse, having shared visions of a world-ending catastrophe that led them to this place. The only way to supposedly prevent it? The family must sacrifice one of their own, lest they be the only ones left alive once the dust (and giant killer waves and other ghastly terrors) clears.

While the film's home invasion was a very real fear for Grint, it was a dream come true for Quinn — starring in the movie, that is. Speaking to SYFY a few months after the film arrived in theaters, Quinn revealed that she'd spent 14 years auditioning to work with Shyamalan. "I had just been really hopeful for many years and it was really gratifying to finally see that come to fruition and get to work with him," she explained. "This project felt very right for me, and for both of us to be the first thing."

Spoilers for "Knock at the Cabin" to follow.

Quinn was only 27 when she gave that interview, so it's plausible she'd initially auditioned for Shyamalan as far back as 2010's ill-fated "Last Airbender." Since then, there's been no shortage of roles in his films that would've been age-appropriate for Quinn. To be sure, the filmmaker is one of the best in the biz when it comes to offering top-notch parts for young people, going all the way back to Haley Joel Osment in "The Sixth Sense" and, most recently, Kristen Cui as Wen in "Knock at the Cabin."

Wen, as it were, suffers a much different fate in "Knock at the Cabin" than in Tremblay's book. In Shyamalan's version of the story, the young girl and her fathers, Andrew (Ben Aldridge) and Eric (Jonathan Groff), spend most of the film desperately trying to evade their terrible fate. By the end, though, Eric accepts that the home invaders are telling the truth and convinces Andrew to kill him, not wanting Wen to grow up in a devastated world. It's a decidedly bittersweet ending that Tremblay himself feels is way darker than his novel.

Having read the book, Quinn agrees. "It's almost even more heartbreaking that they just have each other, that this kid survived this, and now has to live with this," she told SYFY. "I think the ending was the biggest, shocking difference for me." Some have even argued that "Knock at the Cabin" is Shyamalan at his worst. Yours truly? I'm more of the mind that it's an uncomfortably honest parable about the limits of queer assimilation and how the most innocent members of society are frequently called upon to make the greatest sacrifices.

But that's Shyamalan for ya, stirring the pot like few other directors nowadays. No wonder Quinn waited 14 years to work with him.