Robin Hardy always envisaged his iconic 1973 folk horror film The Wicker Man as the first part of a trilogy.

The Wicker Tree, released in 2011, brought him closer to that ambition, but his death in 2016 at the age of 86 left the project incomplete.

Now his sons, Justin and Dominic, have been able to complete their father’s trilogy, after finding a script for the final film.

And it’s thanks to the surprise discovery of some long-lost family archive.

“The person who bought Justin’s old family home said they’d discovered six sacks of letters, scripts and other material pertaining to Robin Hardy and The Wicker Man in the attic,” says Dominic, an art historian at the University of Quebec in Montreal.

“Justin’s first instinct was to burn them, but we couldn’t ignore this original source material. Although we left it unopened for six months or more.”

The archive haul included papers, scripts and storyboards, but it also shed light on the long shadow cast by The Wicker Man.

The film holds a unique place in British cinema history. It was shot at a time when the UK industry was in crisis. Its financial backers were struggling and its stars – including horror legend Christopher Lee – had to go without being paid to get it finished.

It was set on a Hebridean island in spring but was shot in Galloway in the autumn and early winter. On its release, it was largely buried as a second feature. There were competing edits and tales of missing material, some of which was said to be literally buried in the supporting columns of a motorway.

But the film’s reputation grew. Lee considered it one of his finest films, featuring one of his finest performances. Its off-kilter tone and genuinely disturbing climax made it a favourite for horror fans.

By the time the BBC launched the cult cinema series Moviedrome in 1988, there was only one choice for opening night – the premiere of a previously unseen edit of The Wicker Man.

The film’s troubled production was mirrored by the troubles it brought Robin Hardy and his family.

It bankrupted the director, and he abandoned Justin’s mother Caroline, leaving her with all his debts.

He went on to marry four more times, and had eight children in all.

Justin and Dominic talk about their complicated relationship with the film in the 2024 book and documentary Children Of The Wicker Man.

The recently unearthed archive included a script for that proposed third and final film, Wrath of the Gods, as well as details of how their father had come up with the idea.

“He had had been in an airplane and had a turn because his heart medication wasn’t working,” says Dominic.

“He had to land in Reykjavik and spend a week recuperating, and he came back with this idea of a theme park around an extinct volcano in Iceland where the Norse gods get upset and mayhem ensues.

“And then he decided it ought to be set in Shetland because of the other parts of the trilogy.”

Justin, an Emmy and BAFTA-nominated director, worked on the idea with Dominic. They came up with their own original story, in which a young grieving widow returns to the island of Hel to bury her late husband after his suicide.

She’s cast out by the community, who look on her as a symbol of evil and bad luck. When children start going missing, the island is forced to confront its own complex history.

Filming began in Shetland in the spring of 2025.

While the two leads are played by Game of Thrones and Rose of Nevada actor Francis Magee, and Norwegian actress Christiane Schaldemose, the rest of the cast was found locally.

“It feels like a huge honour,” says Lynsey Rendall, who plays Francis’s screen wife Maeve.

“The Wicker Man is such a famous film and has such an impact on popular culture so it was amazing to be part of that world.”

John Haswell has worked in theatre for a number of years but says his role as the Rev Knox was a highlight of his career.

“He’s a sleazy man of the cloth and I had an absolute ball working on it,” he says.

“It was an intense six weeks, filming in Voe virtually every day. It wasn’t glamorous but that’s part of the fun.”

Martha Robertson is 17-years-old and was sitting her Highers during filming.

She says the experience helped her launch a career in acting.

“There was one scene we filmed which was meant to be in the pouring rain on a dark gloomy day but it fell on what seemed to be the sunniest day of the year,” she says.

“They had to black out all the windows and two crew members were on a wall with a hose and a leaf blower so we could get wind and rain.

“Which seemed really crazy because it rains every day on Shetland, but not the day we needed it to.”

Many of the Shetland cast and crew plan to attend the premiere of Wrath of the Gods at the horror festival FrightFest in London on Friday.

But their celebrations have been overshadowed by the sudden death of Justin Hardy last month at the age of 61.

“We all were – still are – looking forward to seeing the finished film,” says John.

“But now it’s not just a celebration of the film, it’s a celebration of Justin and his life. It will be wonderful and sad. A complex mixture of emotions.”

For Lynsey, the film is a testament to the late director.

“It was such a massive risk,” she says.

“So to get to the end of that process, when it’s going to be on a screen, feels a bit miraculous really and it’s so vexing that Justin isn’t going to be there to see what he so passionately wanted to achieve.”

For the Hardy family, it has become a strange tribute to three of their number.

Wrath of The Gods completes Robin Hardy’s Wicker trilogy and is dedicated to Justin’s mother Caroline, who was a secret uncredited executive producer on the original 1973 film.

She died in 1984, aged 51, without knowing that the film she’d backed would go on to be so loved and admired.

“It will be poignant beyond imagining. A sad but celebratory moment,” says Dominic.

“I know that he [Justin] was extremely proud of it being taken by FrightFest.

“Justin’s efforts have brought us all together as a family and helped us harness all our energy.”