Russo Brothers Confirm ‘The Gray Man’ Sequel Is Coming!
After the release The Gray Man earlier this month in theaters and last week on Netflix, it was clear to fans that this movie was a franchise waiting to happen. And while not all critics loved the film as much as I did, I couldn’t have agreed more. Six was destined to become a household name like Bond and Bourne.
The good news is, not only is a sequel is already in the works, so is an R-rated spin-off. Directors, Anthony and Joe Russo, have confirmed that their Netflix thriller starring Ryan Gosling, Chris Evans and Ana de Armas is set to get a second installment, plus a spin-off, with the former returning as the titular protagonist aka Court Gentry.
The Gray Man Sequel Is Coming
“I can’t get too specific about where we see the character going in the next movie, because it’s so early days. But we designed a big ensemble in this film because we love ensemble storytelling.” Anthony Russo tells Tudum
“Having a bunch of interesting characters creates a lot of possibilities in terms of where you’re gonna go in future storytelling because there’s so many compelling characters played by so many compelling actors and they’re all worth further exploration.” Russo continues.
Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese are set to pen the spin-off, which will be a “hard R” when it comes to ratings.
“It means that one will be a hard R. Can’t say more at this point.” Joe Russo tells Deadline
But what does a hard R really mean exactly? It essentially means the film is just shy of a NC-17 rating. So there will likely be considerable sexual content, language, and violence – more-so than a typical R-rated film.
“The sequel will be inspired by the Mark Greaney novel. Translating from one medium to another often requires interpretation, but we have an incredible amount of source material from an amazing offer. We’ll draw on that for the sequel.” Joe Russo continues to reveal.
Mark has penned 11 novels about the Gray Man aka Sierra Six, with a 12th on the way, so there is no shortage of content to pull from.
Joe Russo also went on to praise star Ryan Gosling for his incredible “physicality” and believability in the action field, while also insisting The Gray Man is a comedy “at its heart”.
The Gray Man Is A Comedy….?
“He does a couple things amazingly well that I don’t think anyone else can do. He has great physicality. He’s very believable on screen as this kind of character. He has great body control, ” Russo adds. “An action movie requires an entirely different skill set than a dramatic role does, but this movie is, at its heart, a comedy, you know?”
Not quite sure that I agree on calling The Gray Man a comedy. Though, it did have some really well-placed moments of humor. But regardless, I’m more than thrilled to hear that we have more content on the way. Sounds like Gosling is going to have a pretty busy schedule coming up…. especially if he does get cast in the MCU as rumors are continuing to suggest!
Are you excited for The Gray Man sequel and spin-off? Let us know your thoughts on Netflix’s most expensive film of all time in our comment section below!<
Reviews of The Gray Man are mixed but if you liked the intermittently fast and furious pace of Bill Fairclough’s epic fact based spy novel Beyond Enkription in The Burlington Files series then you will love Anthony Russo’s The Gray Man and vice versa. They both make parts of Robert Ludlum’s Jason Bourne series look like slow horses! The Gray Man is about a renegade CIA agent on the run and stars Ryan Gosling and Chris Evans; it’s based on Mark Greaney’s debut novel of the same name. Fairclough’s factual stand-alone thriller Beyond Enkription is about a (real life) MI6 agent on the run from international organised crime gangs and Haiti’s TonTon Macoute from London to Nassau and Port au Prince to Miami. The Gray Man and The Burlington Files are both musts for espionage aficionados. The difference between them is that The Burlington Files series has mainly had five star reviews, it’s factual, full of real characters and was written for espionage cognoscenti.