'Glass,' 'Unbreakable' and 'Split' Have Crazy Connections

At San Diego Comic-Con 2018, Universal unveiled the first trailer for Glass, M. Night Shyamalan’s third installment in what some are calling the Eastrail 177 Trilogy, and fans went wild. Recently a second trailer dropped and now everyone is trying to catch all the little Easter eggs and what this connection might mean for Mr. Glass (Samuel L. Jackson), David Dunn (Bruce Willis) and The Horde (James McAvoy). If you haven’t seen Shyamalan’s Unbreakable (2000) or Split (2017), first off, what? Close your computer and go watch them ASAP. Seriously, go now, then come back when you’re ready.

OK now, if you still haven’t seen them (and didn’t listen to me, tsk tsk), here’s your spoiler alert, cause we are about to blow your mind. Now, if you’re familiar with Shyamalan’s work, you know he is a master of hiding breadcrumbs everywhere. The type of thing where when you see the big twist, you say “Ohhhhh” and realize it was there in front of you all along. After obsessing over both films, and meticulously watching both trailers all weekend, here’s a dive into how Glass ties Unbreakable and Split together and all the Easter eggs so far.

Shyamalan Hid Colors And Comic Book Easter Eggs All Over

One of the easiest catches in the trailer is Shyamalan’s use of color. Unbreakable established the use of greens for David Dunn and purples for Elijah Price (Mr. Glass’ real name) and Split established yellows for The Horde. In both Glass trailers when the studio title comes up, there’s a purple hue in the light and all over the frame. Also, when the frame shows all three in the hospital speaking to Dr. Ellie Staple (Sarah Paulson), they each are wearing their respective colors. This is a small detail, but it establishes the connection to both Unbreakable and Split. One interesting thing to note is that it looks like Dr. Staple has her own color palette – pinks. Does this indicate she might be a super as well?

Another noteworthy use of color is something we see first established in Unbreakable. When Elijah talks about how his mom gave him his first limited edition comic book, we see the comic’s cover with a hero, dressed in green, fighting a beast-like character that happens to be in a darker yellow with a purple background. This could very well be representative of Elijah setting the scene for a Dunn vs. The Beast throwdown, a foreshadowing that was 18 years in the making. Considering the two Glass trailers have made it seem as if the genius-level mastermind Mr. Glass will use The Beast for his own purposes, it appears as if we’ll indeed be seeing a physical fight between good and evil.

Samuel L. Jackson as Mr. Glass in ‘Glass’

Speaking of comic books, there’s a quick snap of Elijah looking down at a comic book open to a page where there’s another beast-like character pulling steel bars apart with his face in between them. This is a callback to a scene in Split, where we first saw just what The Beast was capable of as he pulled two solid steel bars apart like they were taffy while baring his blood-soaked teeth to Casey Cooke (Anya Taylor-Joy).

There’s also a very cool callback to Split literally on McAvoy’s body. When Casey tries to shoot the Beast, she hits him twice. The Beast doesn’t falter, just telling her that won’t kill him. He gets closer, and you can see the injury and the blood from where he was hit. Near the end of the movie, he is shown in front of a mirror, possibly removing shrapnel from his torso as his personalities talk to each other. Later, in the Glass trailers, you can clearly see the scars from where Casey shot him in Split, another world-building link that ties the continuity of the movies together.

The additional cast is a link to both films as well. Besides Casey, who links Glass to Split, Dunn’s son and Elijah’s mom from Unbreakable are both seen in the Glass trailer. Both wear colors connected to their respective family member, Elijah’s mom in a purple blouse and Dunn’s son in a dark green jacket.

The Same Musical Theme Also Ties The Trilogy Together

There’s also a musical throughline tying the trilogy together, in particular, one piece of the score is featured in all three films thus far. In Unbreakable, when Dunn is ready to accept and test his powers, Elijah tells him to “go where the people are.” As Dunn stands in the middle of the train station, he starts to “see” different people’s lives when he touches them which is as simple as them bumping into him. The background music playing throughout is featured in the soundtrack as “Visions.” The same song is playing in the background at the end of Split during that final scene where we finally see Dunn sitting at a diner. It is also featured, though a bit muted, in the first trailer for Glass.

Finally, the biggest connection to the three is how it all began in Unbreakable when David was the sole survivor of a train crash. In Split, it is revealed that fifteen years prior, Kevin Wendell Crumb, the true identity of The Horde/The Beast, was left by his father when his father boarded a train and never came back. Though Shyamalan doesn’t explicitly say that the train was the one David was on, Kevin leaves flowers at the boarding platform of a train station, possibly signifying his father died due to a train, and alluding to the two having had a connection long before either knew what they could do. It would be odd for it to be about any other train, so it’s a pretty clear connection between the two men.

I don’t know about you, but going down this rabbit hole has made me so excited and I am now counting down the days until we get to see Glass and all the twists and turns Shyamalan has in store for us.