Is Melissa Barrera’s Character A Vampire In Abigail? Joey’s Fate & Future Explained

The ending to the 2024 vampire horror comedy Abigail provides a bloody resolution for all the main characters besides Melissa Barrera’s Joey, whose fate and future is left ambiguous despite her surviving the movie’s events. While the box office returns for Abigail were disappointing, the movie has been a hit with both critics and audiences thanks to its solid character development and fun, campy horror elements. Melissa Barrera’s character Joey is among the most well-developed, and as the only primary character to survive the splatterfest, her character is the only one with a potential future.

Barrera herself has addressed the chances of Abigail 2 being made, and her character Joey would most likely return, given that her character survived Abigail’s blood-sucking spree. Her role in any sequel would be uncertain given how her character ended up. She was bitten by Dan Stevens’ Frank, who intended to turn her into his puppet, and while she was still alive at the conclusion of Abigail, her long-term fate was never addressed.

Joey Is Not A Vampire When Abigail Ends

She Was Bitten By Dan Stevens’ Frank

During the blood-soaked final battle between Barrera’s Joey, Frank, and Abigail, Frank bites Joey with the intention of turning her into his puppet, just as Abigail had done with Sammy. However, Joey doesn’t turn into a vampire by the time the movie ends. As the two team up to kill Frank, Abigail points out that Frank has no experience as a vampire, and therefore is unable to utilize some of the more advanced powers that come with vampirism. Despite enhancing his own powers by draining Abigail of her blood, Frank’s bite still doesn’t turn Joey into a vampire right away.

Why Joey Doesn’t Become A Vampire After Frank Bites Her

Other Characters Turn Into Vampires Once Bitten

The most immediate reason that Joey doesn’t turn into a vampire is that Frank, the vampire who would have been responsible for turning her into a vampire (and his puppet), is killed shortly after. Abigail implies that Frank’s death breaks the vampire curse that Joey would have quickly succumbed to after being bitten, and therefore she leaves with her humanity intact despite suffering plenty of injuries. Abigail claims that Joey won’t turn into a vampire despite being bitten, and her ability to remain in sunlight proves that she doesn’t appear to be lying.

Abigail
opened with just over $10 million at the box office, which was considered a disappointment considering the film’s $28 million budget.

It’s possible Frank could have turned Joey right away, as Lambert did for him. However, Frank’s arrogance at his newfound powers and ignorance of how they work is to blame for Joey ultimately escaping the fate that befell Kathryn Newton’s Sammy. Had Frank attempted to properly turn Joey right away, it’s almost certain that he and Joey would have been able to kill Abigail, and potentially Abigail’s crime lord father as well. That would have made Frank the dominant vampire, and led to Joey remaining his pawn for years to come.

Melissa Barrera’s Joey Can Still Become A Vampire After Abigail

She Was Still Bitten, Which Is The First Step

While Abigail finished with a satisfying conclusion, Melissa Barrera revealed that an alternate ending might have made Abigail 2 more likely. In that sequel, there would be any number of ways to explore Joey’s fate after the events of Abigail. While she hadn’t turned into a vampire in the few minutes after Frank bit her and she escaped the manor, there is nothing confirming Joey wouldn’t eventually turn into a vampire, or at least start to develop vampire-like tendencies despite not undergoing the full process required to transition into a vampire under their own control.

Melissa Barrera addressed the possibility directly in an interview with Syfy, noting that she would be interested in exploring what would happen if Joey were to undergo the transition herself.

One of my biggest regrets of this movie is that Joey doesn’t turn into a vampire…so if we do a sequel, like I would just ask for Joey to turn. You know, she does get bit so there is that chance.

The introduction of Abigail’s father, who it’s implied was actually known as the vampire Dracula in the past, also leaves the door open for further exploration of Joey’s powers.

The conclusion of Abigail saw Joey team up with the titular vampire to take down Frank after they had formed some semblance of a bond earlier in the night, so a sequel in which Joey does become a vampire could see the two team up again to take down the ultimate evil that is Abigail’s father, now known as Kristof Lazar. Unfortunately, Abigail‘s underwhelming box office returns indicate that a sequel is unlikely, meaning that Joey’s ultimate fate is the one shown at the end of Abigail, where she does not turn into a vampire.

What Melissa Barrera Said About Joey’s Fate

The Abigail Cast Member Teased Possible Vampirism In A Sequel

While there are currently no plans for a sequel to Abigail, actor Melissa Barrera has teased her ideas for a possible Abigail 2. What’s more, her idea for a sequel would see Joey become a vampire after all, adding another layer both to her character and the world of Abigail were it to become a franchise. Speaking to Collider in April 2024, Barrera revealed that she’d love for Joey to discover that she’d been turned into a vampire:

Honestly, my dream is that Joey gets home and she turns into a vampire. So, she then comes back and is like, “You lied to me, Abigail! You told me I was going to be fine.”

However, this wasn’t the only idea Melissa Barrera had for Joey in a hypothetical Abigail 2. Rather than seeing her character going up against Alisha Weir’s Abigail after finding out the child vampire had lied about her fate, Barrera envisions that the transformation would eventually lead to Joey and the titular vampire of Abigail teaming up to fight other bloodsucking creatures of the night – “then [after learning Abigail turned Joey into a vampire] they have to fight some other vampire clan together.”

This idea would fit well into Weir’s own ideas and desires to follow the story of Abigail further. In the same interview, Weir expressed her desire to explore Abigail further as a character, and to flesh out the unique vampiric lore the 2024 movie laid out:

There’s so much to unfold about Abigail’s history and with her father. She seems like this crazy, awful person who’s brought people here, but there’s always a different side that you don’t see, and that vulnerability to Abigail.

So, while Joey may not have become a vampire at the end of Abigail, the alternate ending reveals that she very nearly did. What’s more, cast members Melissa Berrera and Alisha Weir have expressed a desire to return for Abigail 2, and for the sequel to further expand on the nature of vampires within the universe of Abigail. Joey becoming a vampire herself would definitely help this, as it would allow a sequel to explore the transformation process within the world of Abigail and be a great vehicle for a potential Abigail 2 to further explore the vampires of its unique lore beyond Abigail and her father.