After 16 years of playing medium Elise Rainier, Shaye is still unraveling the mysteries of this horror saga.

Insidious mainstay Lin Shaye jumps Out of the Further to talk new demon and expanded lore (exclusive)

After 16 years of playing medium Elise Rainier, Shaye is still unraveling the mysteries of this horror saga.

By Nick Romano

Nick Romano

Nick Romano is a senior editor at ** with 15 years of journalism experience covering entertainment. His work previously appeared in Vanity Fair, Vulture, IGN, and more.

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May 5, 2026 9:00 a.m. ET

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Elise Rainier (Lin Shaye) and Gemma (Amelia Eve) in 'Insidious: Out of the Further'. Credit:

Narelle Portanier/Sony Pictures

- *Insidious: Out of the Further* star Lin Shaye explains the expanded lore of the new horror sequel.

- Shaye likens the "grandness" of new demon Cyrus to Dracula: "It feels very otherworldly, bigger than life, but very rooted in reality."

- The new film centers on a young mother with the ability to bring those inside the Further out into the real world.

What is the Further? After 16 years of *Insidious* movies, veteran star Lin Shaye still doesn't have an exact answer. Though it's a conversation she had with Jacob Chase (*Come Play*), a fresh voice in the horror franchise as the writer/director behind the latest entry, subtitled *Out of the Further*.

"We couldn't answer it, really. So we decided not to," Shaye tells **. All she knows for certain in this mythology is that her character, medium Elise Rainier, and this in-between shadow realm full of wandering souls are the two constants.

"It's still this forbidding place. What has changed is this main character," she says of Amelia Eve (*The Haunting of Bly Manor*) as Gemma.

The story of the Lambert family, which began in the initial 2010 release from filmmaker James Wan (*The Conjuring*) and writer Leigh Whannell (*The Invisible Man*), remains firmly bookended. *Insidious: Out of the Further* now centers on a young single mother with the rare ability to bring those within the purgatorial dimension back out into the real world.

Gemma (Amelia Eve) in 'Insidious: Out of the Further'.

Sarah Enticknap

This gift draws the attention of one demon in particular, a malevolent entity known as Cyrus (*A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms*' Sam Spruell). "[He] was truly scary," Shaye recalls. "When I met him on the street, I had a visceral response, which was crazy. So it's a whole new catalog of people and even of ideas."

Cyrus stands out from the demons of the canon because "he's funny," which can be "very disarming," Shaye describes. "There's a grandness to him. It's sort of like Dracula," she continues. "There's this enfolding and this bigness. I did say to [Spruell] it feels like Shakespeare. It feels very otherworldly, bigger than life, but very rooted in reality. I think that's a perfect combination for an antagonist who is gonna be really awful."

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Elise notably died during the events of the first *Insidious*, but she remained a presence as a spirit now in the Further herself, guiding the Lamberts through their plights. She attempts to do the same for Gemma.

An early scene, set inside a tattoo parlor, depicts Claire (*Talamasca: The Secret Order*'s Maisie Richardson-Sellers) channeling Elise to help the new family.

"That was the very first scene we shot, which was at 4 o'clock in the morning. I'll never forget it," Shaye says. "There was probably the most to talk about in that scene. The ideas of the transference and visiting the Further get set up in that scene. The other actor takes on my persona, basically. That whole section is really about me speaking through another person and her trying to take on my gift."

Elise Rainier (Lin Shaye) and Gemma (Amelia Eve) in 'Insidious: Out of the Further'.

Narelle Portanier

Shaye describes this as "a complicated scene," logistically, that involved Elise appearing in Claire's reflection. This moment can also be seen as a jumping-off point to explore the mythology of the Further...further. Even now, Shaye still has many questions about how it all operates.

"The Further has a lot of different implications for everybody and [is] why it remains very provocative in the story that we're telling," Shaye says. Even filming that realm can be disorienting. She recalls shooting on a stage at an Australian studio, where the crew set up a large black room pumped full of smoke.

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"I had been waiting for a long time in the trailer," she remembers. "When I got in, I had been in the bright sunlight. The timeframes were all screwed up visually for me as a person, let alone a character. I really lost my perspective. I had some really crazy moments of total emptiness. As an actress, it scared the daylights out of me because I was struggling a little bit with dialogue."

That pretty much encapsulates the mysteries of the Further. "It was a very interesting experience and very exciting at the same time," she concludes, "but it moved from being scary to sort of thrilling."

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