How Exactly Did They Bring The Grabber Back for Black Phone 2?
The Grabber dies in The Black Phone, but he's back in the sequel, now streaming exclusively on Peacock.
SPOILER WARNING! This story contains spoilers for Black Phone 2.
"Dead is just a word."
So says The Grabber in Blumhouse's Black Phone 2, the sequel to the 2021 original horror thriller The Black Phone, both of which are now streaming on Peacock.
Ethan Hawke's terrifying child serial killer was a masked killer in the first film, who abducted his young neighbor Finney (Mason Thames), hoping to make him the next victim of his killing spree. But the young boy was too smart and resourceful and had the help of his spitfire little sister Gwen (Madeleine McGraw). They ended up beating The Grabber at his own game, killing him and exposing his long hidden murders.
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With The Grabber's death such a seemingly definitive ending for the murderer, many asked, how is he back in Black Phone 2? As it turns out, director/co-writer Scott Derrickson and co-writer C. Robert Cargill had a lot more ideas behind the origins of The Grabber, which they explored in the sequel.
Find out below how the masked monster comes back into the canon of Black Phone 2.
How did The Grabber survive and return in Black Phone 2?
Technically, The Grabber as he was known and operated in The Black Phone is no more. In the sequel, Derrickson and Cargill go back to their love of '80s slasher horror films to imbue The Grabber with powers from the grave. Much like Freddy Krueger in A Nightmare on Elm Street, Black Phone 2 suggests that The Grabber was so incensed after he mistakenly killed his brother Max (James Ransone) when trying to kill Finney, that he went to hell with that rage and revenge in his heart.
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In the first film, Gwen is able to help her brother because of her ability to see visions in her dreams, and that power is magnified in the sequel. She "sees" murders from the '50s at Alpine Lake Camp and persuades her brother to travel there to get to the bottom of her dreams. There, The Grabber calls Finn on a pay phone and lays out his murderous intent through his access to the dream realm.
It's in this dream realm where The Grabber can inflict physical damage on Gwen, and it is revealed that he also killed at this camp. They discover his undead power is derived from the three missing boys he killed and hid at that camp. If Gwen can find them, The Grabber's powers will disappear.
Where is Black Phone 2 streaming?
Black Phone 2 streams exclusively on Peacock beginning today, January 16, 2026.
Black Phone 2 is now streaming exclusively on Peacock. Check out the official site for Black Phone 2.
