'The First Omen' is 6th in franchise, a prequel to 1976 classic film 'The Omen'
'The First Omen' is playing now in theaters nationwide.
PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- In theaters now, it's the origin story fans of 'The Omen' have been waiting close to 50 years to hear.
"The First Omen" is the sixth film in the franchise.
It serves as a prequel, answering burning questions about Damien's birth, his mother and his backstory.
In it, Nell Tiger Free is Margaret Daino, an American sent to Rome to work at an orphanage before taking the veil. Free spent five years in Philadelphia working on M. Night Shyamalan's series thriller "Servant."
"I love this genre," Free says. "I really do. I love horror. I love all things scary and weird and creepy. I think it's just such a fun genre to play with and to experiment with. You get to do these ridiculous things."
Here, Free enters the sixth film in "The Omen" franchise. This storyline serves as a prequel to the 1976 original film.
"It's a great story," Free says. "The original is a brilliant story. When there's so much meat on the bone for a story, you can't help but just chew it off."
This is also a "fan girl" moment for director for Arkasha Stevenson, who is making her film debut.
"I grew up a huge 'Omen' fan," Stevenson says. "I was so excited about this project, because it answers a big question: where does Damien come from?"
Stevenson says fans get those answers - and then some.
"You're still not fully sated," Stevenson says. "A million other questions pop up, even for me as the filmmaker. I'm so excited to possibly explore either continuing on into the future with with Margaret and the girls, or even going back in time and asking a lot of questions about about the jackal and how the conspiracy started within the church. I there's a lot of stuff to play with."
"The First Omen" is in theaters now.
