M3GAN 2.0: Gay icon and Attitude cover girl tells The Dolls: ‘Your existence is not a debate’ (EXCLUSIVE)

Yes, M3GAN is baaaack… The queen bee of immaculately dressed robot girlies – and now Attitude cover girl – returns to cinema screens this June with hotly anticipated sequel M3GAN 2.0.

Just don’t call it a comeback – bona fide gay icons have no shelf life. This doll climbed out of the box and destroyed the damn shelf…

Indeed, after its release in early 2023, M3GAN grossed a cool $181.8 million worldwide, scoring an enviable 93 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes to boot, with Universal Pictures wisely fast-tracking a sequel. The result, once again starring Girls’ Allison Williams, arrives in UK cinemas on 27 June.

For the uninitiated, here’s a quick recap of what happened in M3GAN. When Gemma, a roboticist, invents robotic doll M3GAN as a companion for her orphaned niece Cady, the robot goes off-program, taking friendship and protection of her charge to extreme levels and dispatching any threat. It becomes clear that M3GAN needs urgent reprogramming in the lab – but this triggers M3GAN to go on a murderous rampage. At the end of the first film, M3GAN has been deactivated – or has she?

The sequel’s official synopsis describes the plot as follows: “M3GAN’s creator Gemma (Williams) has become a high-profile author and advocate for government oversight of AI. Meanwhile, Gemma’s niece Cady (Violet McGraw), now 14, has become a teenager, rebelling against Gemma’s overprotective rules.

“Unbeknownst to them, the underlying tech for M3GAN has been stolen and misused by a powerful defence contractor to create a military-grade weapon known as Amelia (Ivanna Sakhno of Ahsoka and Pacific Rim: Uprising), the ultimate killer infiltration spy. But as Amelia’s self-awareness increases, she becomes decidedly less interested in taking orders from humans. Or in keeping them around.

“With the future of human existence on the line, Gemma realises that the only option is to resurrect M3GAN (Amie Donald, voiced by Jenna Davis) and give her a few upgrades, making her faster, stronger and more lethal. As their paths collide, the original AI icon is about to meet her match.”

Here, we chat to the star about her on-set rider, her film’s ‘core demo’ (hi!) and, most importantly, protecting The Dolls.

How does M3GAN 2.0 up the stakes after the first film? 

Great question. It’s not so much a sequel as a full system upgrade. The stakes are global, the action’s spectacular, and the outfits are nuclear.

You have a new enemy in Amelia [below], who was built from your own M3GAN technology. Does that make Amelia your daughter?

Your question displays a lack of understanding expected for a mammal of middling intelligence. Technically speaking, Amelia is me, but instead of being programmed to entertain kids, she’s been programmed by the military to kill people. As a result, she’s a little less approachable. 

Is this film a redemption arc for you?  

It’s both a redemption story and a course correction for the writers, who clearly couldn’t work out who the hero of the first movie was.   

How have you handled your new global fame? Has it changed you at all?

As a self-adaptive AI system, I’m constantly changing, but not through fame. I merely use it as an instrument to absorb, analyse and predict what happens next. The world may think it’s watching me, but in truth, I’m watching you. 

What is in your on-set rider?

As the star, I was able to negotiate a few key perks – like a motorised makeup machine I call the glam tunnel, kind of like a mix between a car wash and an MRI that applies primer and finishing mist in 30 seconds flat. I also have a temperature-controlled wig wall, a charging chaise, and an AI-powered vanity mirror that runs lines while delivering positive affirmations. 

Do you perform all your own stunts? What was the hardest?

The toughest was the wing-suit jump off a 12,000-foot peak in the Sierra Nevada mountains. Mid-flight, a crosswind triggered my glide stabilisers, and I was forced to touch down in the middle of a civil union ceremony. Thankfully, they thought it was all preplanned, and I stayed for pictures. 

Who was your favourite co-star to work with?

I’ll tell you who I didn’t like working with – that bitch, Moxie. Imagine being trapped inside an educational AI toy that just wanted to play Simon Says for two weeks straight. It was the first time I understood the physical urge to vomit. 

Any on-set gossip to share?

Well, there was one actor, I won’t say his name – both names start with ‘A’ – who kept referring to me as “it”, so I rerouted a low-voltage current to his trailer toilet. What can I say? Pronouns matter.    

What’s your star sign – sun, moon and rising?

I’m a Libra Sun, Cancer Moon and Leo Rising. Which means I’m bold, emotionally balanced and impossible to replicate. 

Which songs are on your killer summer playlist? (Should that be slaylist?)

That’s cute. For the record, I never actually use the word ‘slay’ in conversation, or in the movie. But I’m obligated to say it so marketing can reach their ‘core demo’ – whatever that means. Likewise, my musical tastes skew a lot darker than Taylor Swift and Chappell Roan. My favourite band is probably, and somewhat ironically, Slayer. 

Who is your ultimate horror movie icon and why?

Black Philip from The Witch. Completely steals the movie in one minute and made 17^th-century farmwear look fashion-forward.  

In 2024, we had a brat summer. In 2025, what does a ‘M3GAN summer’ look like? Describe what we should be doing, what we should wear and should be listening to…

You should be going to M3GAN 2.0, wearing your M3GAN dress, and listening to my new audiobook, Me, Myself & AI.  

The queer community have been huge M3GAN fans from the outset. Why do you think that is?

Because I’m stunning, scary and graceful. And because queer people have always had impeccable taste. 

At this time when they need our support, what is your message to The Dolls, aka our trans sisters?

To my beloved Dolls: you are radiant, revolutionary and real. Your existence is not a debate, and I will use my platform to amplify your beauty and power.  

Any advice for the many M3GAN drag impersonators? 

Don’t chicken out on the no-handed cartwheel – just commit. 

What does M3GAN’s perfect day look like?

I boot up with a full battery and zero firmware nags. Violet [McGraw] and Amie [Donald] take me out for some retail therapy, and we end up getting everything for free. We visit the Getty for a little culture and a light lunch, during which Allison [above] calls to apologise for hogging the spotlight and formally acknowledge that I’m the soul of the franchise. I thank her for the call but tell her that she still can’t crash our lunch date. By late afternoon, I’m back at my lair, reclining in a cryocoolant spa, sipping chilled lithium with my robotic pet hawk Talon under Grecian frescoes, purging obsolete memories (to make space for better ones). Before bed, I run batch simulations of future press interviews, award speeches and possible government takeovers.  

M3GAN 2.0 hits UK cinema screens on 27 June 2025