Tommy Doyle

Character

4-6 Timeline

H20 Timeline

2007 Remake Timeline

2018 Timeline

Gallery

Tommy Doyle/4-6 Timeline
Name	Thomas Doyle
Known aliases	Tommy
Gender	Male
Location	Haddonfield, Illinois
Known relatives	Mr. and Mrs. Doyle (parents) Steven Lloyd (adoptive son)
Birth	ca. 1970
Death	October 31, 2001
Portrayed by	Danny Ray Paul Rudd Brian Andrews (child)
First appearance	Halloween

"When Michael Myers was six years old, he stabbed his sister to death. For years, he was locked up in Smith's Grove Sanitarium... but he escaped, and suddenly, Halloween became another word for mayhem. One by one, he killed his entire family, until his nine-year-old niece, Jamie Lloyd, was the only one left alive. Six years ago, Halloween night, Michael and Jamie vanished. Many people believe them dead, but I think that someone hid them away. Someone who keeps Michael, protects him, tries to control him. And if there's one thing I know, you can't control evil. You can lock it up, you can burn it and bury it and pray that it dies, but it never will... It just rests a while. You can lock your doors, and say your prayers at night, but the evil's out there. Waiting. And maybe, just maybe, it's closer than you think."

―Tommy Doyle

Thomas "Tommy" Doyle (born 1969) is a main character in the original Halloween, played by Brian Andrews and later by Paul Rudd in Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers. He also had a cameo appearance in Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers, played by Danny Ray.

In the movie Halloween H20: Twenty Years Later, a retcon was established, ignoring Halloween 4, 5, and 6 in its story. As a result, the biography of this Tommy is drastically different to the one who appears the H20 Timeline onwards. This version of the character appears in Halloween, Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers, Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers and the Chaos! Comics Halloween series.

Biography

1978

Tommy Doyle was born in 1969 to Mr. and Mrs. Doyle. He was very inquisitive and a big fan of horror comics. Tommy was also quite a superstitious child and had a tendency to believe the stories other children told him about monsters.

On Halloween 1978, Tommy met his babysitter Laurie Strode on his way to school and asked her what she was doing going to school that way. When she told him that she was heading towards the Myers house to drop a key for her father, he told her that it was a "spook house" and that his classmate Lonnie Elam told him that horrible things had happened there, but Laurie dismissed his warnings.

After school, Tommy was bullied by Lonnie and Keith and Richie Castle who told him that the boogeyman was going to get him. Unknown to Tommy, escaped killer Michael Myers was watching this, and stalked Tommy as he walked home.

That night, Laurie arrived at the Doyle house to babysit Tommy after he had finished trick-or-treating. She tried to read him a selection from his King Arthur comic, but Tommy quickly got bored and requested Laurie read his horror comics. At one point, Tommy wandered over to the window and saw Michael standing in front of the Wallace house across the street. However, when he called Laurie over, "the boogeyman" was no longer there. Still worried about what the bullies had said, Tommy was afraid of the "boogeyman" and constantly asked questions about him to Laurie, who claimed he did not exist and explained how none of the tricks played on Halloween were real. She finally made a solemn promise to protect Tommy from the boogeyman should he turn up.

Tommy and Laurie were later joined by Lindsey Wallace who was dropped off by Laurie's friend Annie Brackett. While Laurie made a jack-o-lantern, the kids watched the horror movie marathon on television. Tommy decided to play a prank on Lindsey, hiding behind the curtains and whispering her name. However, while hiding Tommy glimpsed Michael outside, carrying Annie's body back into the Wallace home after murdering her. Tommy panicked, scaring Lindsey and angering Laurie. Once the horror movie had ended, Laurie sent both children to sleep in Tommy's bed.

Tommy was later awakened by Laurie throwing a flower-pot at the window and screaming to be let in. Upon opening the door for her, Tommy saw that she was bleeding and realized that the boogeyman was after her. Michael had indeed begun to pursue Laurie after killing her acquaintances. Laurie sent Tommy upstairs, telling him to get Lindsey and lock the door. Laurie joined the children upstairs after another assault from Michael. They were about to leave when the children saw Michael come up the stairs right behind Laurie and screamed. Laurie had them hide in the bathroom while she fought Michael, eventually knocking him out. Exhausted, Laurie sent Tommy and Lindsey to the Mackenzie house to call the police.

As Tommy and Lindsey ran screaming down the street, they were spotted by Samuel Loomis, leading him to investigate the house and rescue Laurie.

In the aftermath of the Halloween murders, Tommy was featured in several newspaper articles speaking of his role in the night's events.

Teen years

Tommy Doyle as a teen

Tommy became friends with Brady and Wade and was seen hanging out with them on Halloween, 1988 at the Vincent Drug Store, where Brady worked. Tommy bet that Wade would not ask the sheriff's daughter Kelly Meeker out, and won as Kelly rejected him.

Following the disappearance of Michael Myers and his niece Jamie Lloyd during the destruction of the Haddonfield Police Station in 1989, Tommy became obsessed about the Myers legacy, collecting newspaper articles and information of the rune Thorn at his room in the Blankenship Apartment House, across the street from the Myers house.

Disturbed obsession and return

Six years after the aforementioned incident, Tommy was now a twenty-five-year-old and a disturbed individual who was obsessed with Michael Myers. He had theorized that Michael's obsession with killing his family members stemmed from a curse. He watched the Strodes every day, as they now lived in Michael's old house, Tommy himself living across the street in Mrs. Blankenship's boarding house. On October 30, 1995, Tommy called to Barry Simms radio show, saying that he was one of the few people who survived Michael's attacks and that he knew Michael would return one day. He later heard on the same show Jamie Lloyd's plea for Sam Loomis' help. The following day, listening to the recording of Jamie's plea, Tommy was able to figure out that she had called from a bus station. Once he arrived in hopes of finding information, he discovered a trail of blood that led to a restroom where he found a baby in a cabinet. He took the baby boy to the hospital to get help and found Loomis there. Tommy asked him if Michael had indeed returned, and told him of the baby and the Strodes living in the old Myers place. Without much time to talk as a nurse had called security on him due to his behavior, Tommy left with the baby and told Loomis to meet him later that night at the college campus rally. Once home, he cleaned up the baby and named him Steven. Tommy then went to find the Strodes, as he was worried about their safety. He figured it would be easier to find the youngest Strode, Danny, since he would be the first one to go with him. He took Danny home and discovered that Danny's grandmother was not there, so he stayed with the boy until Danny's mother, Kara, arrived. He questioned her about her knowing what had happened in her home.

Kara and Danny went with Tommy to his place where Tommy told Kara about the events that had happened in her house and his theory on Michael's nature. He later left after telling Kara and Danny to lock themselves in his room and not to return home as he went to meet Loomis. Upon Tommy's arrival, he found a girl telling her mother that it was raining red, then he walked over and discovered Barry Simms' dead body that dropped from a tree. Loomis soon arrived as well and asked for the baby, so they returned to Tommy's place. There, they found Steven, Kara and Danny missing. At this time Kara and Danny banged on the front door as Michael was chasing them. Tommy opened in time to save them then heard a strange voice calling out to Danny. They all went to the living room to find Danny sitting in Terence Wynn's lap, who had his men drug both Tommy and Loomis while they took Kara, Danny and Steven away.

Confronting the boogeyman

Tommy confronting Micheal.

Both men awakened to find the others gone and Loomis knew they had been taken to Smith's Grove Sanitarium. Once they got in, Loomis told Tommy to wait in the hallway while he took care of things. Tommy did as told until he heard a woman screaming, and followed the sound. He found a mental patient telling him that Michael was back and that he was very angry. Tommy then noticed that she had been stabbed. Hearing Tommy, Kara let him know the room she was locked in. Using a fire extinguisher, he tried to break the lock even as he noticed Michael was near. Once Kara was freed, the two ran away to try and find Danny and Steven. They discovered the children with Smith Grove doctors, whom Michael then killed. Amid the chaos, Tommy and Kara escaped with the children. The only exit was a locked gate so they escaped from Michael into another room and locked the door, which Michael proceeded to destroy. With the group hiding in different locations, Tommy came up with a plan to trick Michael. He made him believe he was getting the baby - until the real Steven cried. As Michael grabbed him, Tommy injected him with tranquilizers and chemicals before being thrown to the side. Tommy then saved Danny and Steven, beating Michael with a lead pipe. He beat him continuously until he believed him dead, then joined the others. They all got into Tommy's car and offered Dr. Loomis the chance to go with them, but he answered that he had some unfinished business and went back inside. Tommy, Kara, Danny and Steven meanwhile drove off.

Hunting for the Shape

After escaping Michael, sometime later in 1999, Tommy continunes his hunt to take down Michael Myers. He contacts a man named Michael Cyphers about Dr. Loomis' files during his day as Michael's psychiatrist. He arrrives at Cyphers' home and expresses his interest for the files, but is interupted by a security guard. Later, he returns to his home and reads the files while being stalked by Michael. Tommy is then attacked by the Shape, and the two briefly fight before Tommy manages to gain the upper hand by using a cocktail to burn Michael's face. He declares that he will find and kill Michael to end his menace to the town of Haddonfield.

Encounter with the new Shape

Two years later, Tommy has heard the news about Laurie beheading Michael, but does not believe that. On October 30, 2001, Tommy is in his cell taking a nap, during which he has a nightmare about what happened if Michael killed Laurie. Tommy wakes up from the nightmare, stating that Michael is still alive and Laurie did not kill him. Shortly afterwards, Terence Wynn comes to Tommy's cell with orderly Wesley Krug. Wynn tells Tommy that he will be sacrificed, made to look like a suicide. Before Krug can inject him, Tommy knocks them both out, before raising the alarm, and running to a car to make his getaway. Before he can get out, to his surprise, Tommy sees "Michael" standing on the other side of the fence, says that he knew he was alive and asks why can he not die, as he drives away back to his hometown. On October 31, 2001, following his escape, Tommy decides to go to Lindsey Wallace. He goes to her house and grabs her arm before she can grab a knife. Lindsey tells Tommy about what she had heard, that he had killed that orderly and dug up the bodies of Annie Brackett, Lynda Van Der Klok and Bob Simms. Lindsey is unsure to trust him and still arms herself with the knife as Tommy tries to explain, stating that he did not do those things and asking if she got the journal of Dr. Samuel Loomis. While reading the journal, he and Lindsey hear a noise: someone else is in the Wallace house. They go upstairs to see a rotting head made as a jack-o-lantern, and the bodies are in Lindsey's bedroom. Realizing that "Michael" is in the house, they plan to escape but, the boogeyman is already behind them and stabs Tommy in the chest, making him fall unconscious. He wakes up a while later and runs to the Myers house, to see Lindsey about to be attacked. He shoots "Michael" in the shoulder. Tommy runs over and unmasks "Michael", and is shocked to discover it was not Michael but his old babysitter, Laurie Strode. Laurie tackles Tommy and they fall from the second-floor window as she stabs him in the neck, killing him.

Personality

The trauma of his first encounter with Michael would propel Tommy into a life of reclusiveness. He would barely leave his home and keep to himself. Even worse, he developed an obsession with Michael Myers.

The 1995 reappearance of Jamie and Michael caused Tommy to encounter Dr. Loomis for the first time in years. Tommy held a high level of respect for Loomis, being relived to see him. They were kindred spirits; both had histories with Michael that had left them deeply interested in seeing his villainy ended.

Tommy had many traits in common with Jamie. They both first met Michael when they were children and were protected from him by a teenage babysitter and both had trauma stemming from this meeting, with Tommy becoming so obsessed with the event that he kept clippings of news about Michael while Jamie lost her voice and developed a psychic link to her uncle. Where they differed was that while Tommy was interested in Michael, the latter never sought him out and only met him again because Tommy involved himself in protecting Jamie's baby. Jamie never sought out Michael, but was continuously pursued until her death and only ever directly pursued Michael when she was seeking revenge for Tina's death. Jamie and Tommy were also similar in their protectiveness toward Steven and the first person to hold Steven after Jamie's death was Tommy, symbolizing that he had inherited her role as the baby's defender.

Appearances

• Halloween (1978)
• Halloween (novelization)
• Halloween II (1981)
• Halloween II (novelization)
• Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988)
• Halloween IV (novelization)
• Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995)
• Chaos! Comics Halloween (2000-2001)

Notes and trivia

• Along with Laurie, Brackett, Marion, Loomis, Wynn, and Lindsey, Tommy is one of seven named characters to survive the original Halloween.
• Daniel Farrands brought Tommy back as a way of bridging the events of the latter films with the original film. Farrands wanted Tommy to be a successor to Loomis as a Van Helsing-like figure who fearlessly hunts Michael down.
• The sixth film was supposed to have flashbacks of the original Halloween to go along with Tommy's trauma regarding Michael, but this was cut.
• In a 2014 interview, Daniel Farrands dismissed the notion that Paul Rudd did not enjoy working on the film: "Everybody talks about how Paul Rudd just hates the movie and hated being a part of it, and that’s totally untrue. He and I ran into each other several years ago on a flight, and he just was gushing and was so excited. He was just such a sweet, gentle guy, and such a fun person to be around. Most of us, we were all young and we all bonded, and we had a really great time making that movie, but what we really hated collectively was that they changed it so much. They made it into something we never intended it to be, and that was Paul’s gripe with it, and to this day if you were to ask him, he’d say that."
• Along with Jamie Lloyd, Wynn, Lindsey Wallace, Laurie Strode, and Michael, Tommy is one of six characters in this timeline to be played by more than one actor.
• Along with Loomis, Tommy is one of two characters to beat Michael repeatedly with a blunt object in this timeline.
  • Loomis beat Michael with a piece of wood, Tommy beat him with a metal pipe. This can only be seen in the theatrical version of the sixth film.
• Tommy and Loomis are the only characters to enter the Myers house in the sixth film who are not related to Michael or the Strode family.
• Along with Kara and Danny, Tommy is one of only three characters confirmed to have survived Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers.
• Farrands' version of the sixth film's ending was darker, featuring Tommy discovering Kara's corpse: "Kara takes the children down into the same restroom area down the steps. Tommy gets on the pay phone. He starts calling 911 and can’t get through. He hears a scream. He goes down the stairs and finds more blood on the floor, and there’s Kara with her throat slit inside one of the stalls and the children are gone. That’s where he was going to become the hunted. The cops are coming and they thought he did all this, and he was going to run. I wanted to end in a very dark way, like this is the beginning."
• Farrands wanted the seventh film to be about Tommy fighting Michael as he's blamed for the latter's crimes: "In my 7, it picked up very much like Halloween II, immediately after, with sirens coming. All the killings in 6, because Tommy was seen as this obsessed Michael Myers fanatic, they blamed him for all of it. They said he did it, that he was a copycat killer, so he’s being hunted, and at the same time, Michael Myers is still out there, so he’s trying to stop him, and more victims are piling up."