- The Old Guard, starring Charlize Theron, is now available on Netflix.
- The film is based on the graphic novel series by Greg Rucka and Leandro Fernandez.
- Here’s everything we know about a potential The Old Guard sequel.
As a first installment, Netflix’s The Old Guard is an odd one. It takes the Young Initiate Thrown into an Unknown World (typical first film stuff) and subsumes the storyline beneath the Veteran at the End of the Road (typical third film trilogy stuff). The results are mixed, the former storyline stripped to essential motifs (the discovery, the Neo/Morpheus fight training, the strong-headed refusal, the revelation and absolute commitment) and the latter played out perhaps faster than we can develop sympathies for our hero, Andy.
Luckily, the film seems to have overcome most of it’s world building growing pains, getting down to business with its final superhero-style closing scene: a group of Avenger-like misfits dramatically stepping into frame and looking just off camera. Assemble! Roll credits! (And queue cliff-hanger post credits scene taken straight from the Marvel easter egg basket.) It’s the kind of closing that more than anticipates a sequel. Netflix, it seems, wants to set up The Old Guard as a potential network franchise.
When will The Old Guard sequel release?
Well, nothing has been officially greenlit yet, and with the COVID-19 pandemic nothing is really in production quite yet (that we know of). But there’s a strong possibility that we’ll get more information in the coming weeks as Netflix assesses viewership, and if things get up and running, a sequel could be out within a couple years (think about how quickly Netflix got sequels into the mix for comedy hits The Kissing Booth and To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before. Different genres, but still, worth thinking about).
For now, sequel bets are smart bets.
What will the movie be about?
We don’t quite know yet. But they certainly have the source material for it. The graphic novel series upon which the film is based (written by Greg Rucka and illustrated by Leandro Fernandez) contains at least ten issues. Director Gina Prince-Bythewood said the novels were her “bible” when adapting the film, and she worked alongside Rucka when expanding characters.
In an interview with Total Film, The Old Guard star Charlize Theron said that “we went into this talking about [a sequel] as a possibility, and it’s definitely something that excites us.”
Theron expanded on this possibility in an interview with GamesRadar+, saying that any sequel will be “based on the graphic novel. In terms of what Greg has written, Quynh has reared her head, and that causes some issues, absolutely. But also, there’s a very grounded story tackling problems within the world, which again brings more villains that are not with immortality, so it’s a really cool balance between the two, in the graphic novel.”
Will the original Old Guard cast return?
A lot of the time it’s hard to expect major movie stars (like Theron) to return for franchise sequels past the first film. Other times, they’ll return up to a certain point, only eventually to be replaced in the lead (think Jeremy Renner taking over for Matt Damon in The Bourne Legacy). But granted Theron’s quote above talking about a sequel being a possibility from the get-go, it’s fair to be optimistic that she would return.
Kiki Layne, who plays Nile, could also be a fair bet to return, considering the journey her character went on in the film. Fellow team members Marwan Kenzari and Luca Marinelli can be expected to return too, and Matthias Schoenaerts and Van Veronica Ngo’s presence in that final scene would seem to make them essential. Also essential? Theron’s fellow Academy Award-nominated star Chiwetel Ejiofor, whose character, Copley, seems to join the team in a more permanent manner in the movie’s closing moments.
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