The Lazarus Configuration would play out the same as Frank and Julia's resurrection like in the first two movies.
If anyone were to make five sacrifices and choose the Lazarus Configuration, wishing for "resurrection", their desire would be granted by bringing any person back in the form of a grotesque undead creature that needs to feed off of the bodies of others before eventually taking their skin. Should the Hellraiser reboot get a sequel, we will see it play out in a way that mirrors Frank and Julie's manifestations in Hellraiser and Hellbound: Hellraiser II respectively. It's likely that the resurrected individual would be driven mad by the process; what was once a well-adjusted, maybe even morally upstanding individual being resurrected as a sadomasochistic beast thoroughly broken by the trauma, maybe even desiring a wish from the puzzle box either to try and reverse the process or alter it in some way, making it an investment for the cenobites.The Priest is actually Kirsty Cotton.
The ending has shown us that Cenobites are made from people and the film's status as a re-adaptation could lend it some leeway by experimenting with characters. Perhaps Kirsty sought the "Power" reward while threatened by Frank or Julia, turning her into the new Priest.The box only has two real choices, a form of existential or unending pain or become a cenobite.
A sequel will loosely adapt Hellbound: Hellraiser II as this film did the novella.
Ideas (such as the Labyrinth dimension and a direct confrontation with the Leviathan) will be loosely adapted though shifted around to tell a new story. The man who sells Voight the box also chose the Lament Configuration
He seems just as worn and traumatized as Riley ends up being. The original Lament Configuration exists in this continuity too.
It's possible that this film is actually a Soft Reboot and that the events of the other movies share continuity with this one. The existence of other supernatural puzzle boxes is theorized In-Universe in the original novel and implied in the second movie. As for the cenobites, the comics do claim that there have been more than one iteration of "Pinhead", Elliot Spencer having merely been the most recent iteration that we've been following. We've also seen multiple different cenobites that fall under the "Chatterer" look, so it's certainly possible that the cenobites from this movie exists parallel to the Order of Gash from the other movies. It's also likely that the different designs of the boxes are why the box from the original series is so different from this one; the original-film's box was based on incomplete knowledge of the original, hens why it only has one "configuration", the Lament Configuration. The Lament Configuration is a less complex box, so while the box can open a portal to Hell, it lacks the more ritualistic aspects of the remake's box that allows Leviathan to manifest in the Mortal Plane and spread more influence through its "blessings." Not only that, but the cenobites being different could also imply that while the remake's box makes fewer cenobites, the cenobites themselves were souls who were of moral character that made them ideal candidates to serve under Leviathan directly. Quality over quantity, if you will. Theme and guessing about the other gifts
The lens of addiction as the central storytelling theme frames the pursuits of the Cenobites more clearly and may offer clues into the two unexplored gifts and what they might entail. The gift motivation for the ritual would very likely shape the path and storytelling parallels as well.- Voight is motivated by sensation at first, paralleling an addict who's burnt out and chasing an ever-escalating high through his deal, but regrets the torture he's put in. His later pursuit of power tortures him further but essentially gives him the role of a "pusher" or drug boss by becoming a Cenobite who goads future victims, showcasing a lack of empathy even as someone directly affected by the tortures he now purveys as a commentary on the unethical nature of drug bosses.
- Riley pursues resurrection, indulging in the metaphoric addiction to undo its own effects—in essence, she's diving further into substances to forget and erase for herself the harm she's already caused. Her sacrifices are also unwanted up until the very end, where she chooses to cut off the person who led her into the rest of them, signifying someone at the whim of an addiction who hasn't intended to harm others. Riley ultimately choosing life and Lament is emblematic of her going cold-turkey after a disastrous relapse— taking positive steps for herself to cut off the substances while leaving a lot of unsolvable damage behind to haunt her.
- With these, it can be extrapolated that the pursuit of love (not resurrection) would be the scenario to manifest in the most classical Hellraiser fashion as a parallel to addiction as manipulation or nonconsensual coercion, and would be where the signature series eroticism would appear in strongest form. A love-motivated ensnarement would mirror the story of somebody led astray into substances by close personal relationships, like Frank corrupting Julia but framed as a drug metaphor. In essence, this path would be like the apocryphal suggested title for the first film, "What a Woman Will Do for a Good Fuck".
- Lastly, a motivation of knowledge would likely reflect a similar path to sensation, but where somebody dives into substances and addiction for the value of observing or studying it (treating the Cenobites' ritual as an intellectual game or research project akin to somebody seeing themselves as above drugs' psychoactive influence or able to ride it out for the greater knowledge) until they find themselves ensnared beyond their control and learn more than they wanted to, chiefly, the downsides and agonies of their path.
