LOS ANGELES - Actress Jamie Lee Curtis will reprise her role as the resilient protagonist in 2018's "Halloween," Universal Pictures said on Friday, 40 years after she made her movie debut in the original horror movie of the same name and became Hollywood's "scream queen."

Curtis, 58, will once again play Laurie Strode, the babysitter who faced the deadly hockey-masked serial killer Michael Myers in John Carpenter's 1978 horror "Halloween." The 2018 film will see Curtis' Strode face "her final confrontation" with Myers, Comcast Corp-owned Universal said.

Carpenter will return to executive produce and consult on the new film.

"Halloween" has become one of Hollywood's most famous slasher film franchises, with nine sequels and reboots over the years, the last being Rob Zombie's 2009 "Halloween II."

Curtis' last appearance in the franchise was in 2002's "Halloween: Resurrection," in which her character was killed. Universal said the 2018 film "carves a new path from the events in the landmark 1978 film," suggesting that it will ignore the events in the 2002 film. - Reuters