Why Tremors 7 Killed Off [SPOILER]
Matthew Harrington Tremors: Shrieker Island made the shocking decision to kill off one of their major stars, so what does this mean for the future of the franchise?
WARNING: Major spoilers for Tremors: Shrieker Island ahead
Tremors has long been a comedy horror franchise that follows Burt Gummer, played by Michael Gross, as he’s pulled into one situation after another to fight graboid monsters that are on the loose, terrorizing a new city. But, in the most recent movie, Tremors: Shrieker Island, Burt Gummer finally fights his last fight.
Leading the queen graboid to her demise off a cliff, Burt is eaten by the graboid, but kills her in the process. The end of the movie features a touching tribute to Burt Gummer through all the films in the series, starting from the very first movie, indicating that Burt really is dead in the Tremors film franchise, though the audience never sees his body for sure to confirm its permanence.
Many fans are understandably upset to see Burt Gummer go, wondering why the series would kill off its main protagonist. Now with Burt gone, where will the Tremors movies go in the future? Does this mean fans should no longer expect to see new additions to the Tremors franchise, or will there be a new hero to follow in Burt's absence?
Michael Gross as Burt Gummer has been the star of the Tremors series since Tremors 3, and has appeared in the movies for thirty years, since the very first Tremors movie in 1990. So, why would the series decide to get rid of their main star after all this time? The most obvious answer is that Michael Gross is 73 years old, and Tremors has been ongoing for a very long time now.
Though the series has brought in numerous co-stars over the years with the first film, Burt Gummer is the only character who has captured audiences enough to carry the films, though Jamie Kennedy returned for more roles than anyone else. It’s possible that the filmmakers simply couldn’t see the franchise moving forward without Burt as long as he remained in the picture, so they killed the character as a way to try and see what other options were available for the franchise's future.
It would also make sense that Universal Home Entertainment—the company who owns the rights to Tremors—might be done with the franchise, and simply sought out an ending for the series with this latest installment. After the original movie, none of the Tremors sequels have seen a full release, instead releasing straight to DVD and home video, so the franchise may not be the biggest moneymaker for the studio anymore.
Finally, it’s possible that with growing political discord in the United States, Burt Gummer’s character is becoming less comical and eccentric than it originally was in 1990 — 30 years ago. His character could be considered problematic or offensive in the modern day, so this stereotype being the series’ hero might also feel a bit uncomfortable for the studio to continue with him in the lead.
That being said, in a recent interview with Bloody Disgusting’s Boo Crew podcast, Michael Gross said that he believes the door is still open for an eighth Tremors movie with Burt Gummer returning, but that it will largely depend on the response to Shrieker Island. Though Gross claims he would still be up for another Tremors, provided he stays in shape enough to handle whatever new challenges they throw at him.
