When Marwan Kenzari’s centuries-old warrior Yusuf Al-Kaysani (okay, fine, “Joe”) declares his undying love for his partner, Luca Marinelli’s Nicol di Genova, in “The Old Guard,” it wipes the smirks off the faces of a group of homophobic goons. The movie also features realistic bone-crunching and bloody fight scenes that make use of the fact that the heroes are immortal (who, yes, similarly goes by Nicky). The film’s plot, on the other hand, is a little disappointing, largely because it functions as a protracted prelude to a much more compelling conflict involving Charlize Theron’s Andromache of Scythia (also known as Andy) and her band of immortal mercenaries and a worthy foe other than Harry Melling’s sleazy, powerful, pharmaceutical CEO Steven Merrick. (But that doesn’t mean I didn’t laugh at Merrick getting his but handed to him, of course.)
Thankfully, enough people watched “The Old Guard” on Netflix to persuade the company to approve its sequel, which will resolve the cliffhanger from the original film’s closing scene and pave the way for a third movie that is already in the works. Let’s not, however, jump the gun. Here is what we currently know about “The Old Guard 2” first and foremost.
When and where to watch The Old Guard 2
As has been traditional for Netflix’s Original movies, “The Old Guard 2” will likely play in a few U.S. cinemas for a short time before streaming exclusively on Netflix. Theron originally stated in June 2021 that the sequel’s script was finished and that filming would begin in the first quarter of 2022. Shooting hasn’t started as of May 2022, though, and it’s obvious that this is so Theron may continue to play Cipher in “Fast X.” That implies “The Old Guard 2” would find it difficult to meet the 2023 release date that was once anticipated, while it’s still not impossible. Aardman Animations’ “Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget,” a follow-up to the studio’s beloved 2000 stop-motion animated film “Chicken Run,” and David Fincher’s assassin thriller “The Killer,” starring Michael Fassbender, are both on track to release that year, so if it does in 2023, it will be in good company (or possibly earlier, in the case of “The Killer”).
What we think The Old Guard 2 will be about
Returning to the “taunting final scene” I mentioned earlier, “The Old Guard” concluded with the revelation that Quynh (Veronica Ngo), Andy’s former ally, had managed to avoid the horrific fate of being dropped to the bottom of the ocean in an iron maiden and experiencing an endless cycle of drowning to death before instantly coming back to life. There is no doubt that Quynh was severely traumatised by her experience, but after going through what she has, what more could she possibly want?
The fact that Quynh searched for Sebastian Le Livre, aka Booker (Matthias Schoenaerts) at the conclusion of “The Old Guard,” six months after Booker had been prohibited from contacting Andy and her team for 100 years as retribution for betraying them, suggests that even now that Andy has recovered her belief in the worth of her crew’s existence, she is probably not interested in aiding her old friend in continuing her quest to improve the world. Of course, Andy will have more to worry about than Quynh in “The Old Guard 2,” as she will have to get used to all the difficulties (large and small) that come with living a mortal existence after losing her super-healing talents.
What we know about the Old Guard 2 cast and crew
Charlize Theron, Marwan Kenzari, Luca Marinelli, Matthias Schoenaerts, and Veronica Ngo are all anticipated to return in “The Old Guard 2,” with the exception of Melling. They will once more be joined by Chiwetel Ejiofor as James Copley, the former CIA officer who essentially agreed to become the team’s “Guy in the Chair” and use his technical expertise to help them better cover their digital footprints, and KiKi Layne as Nile Freeman, the youngest member of Andy’s group.
Greg Rucka, who also wrote the first film and the comic book series on which the franchise is based, will return to the director’s chair for the “Old Guard” sequel, which Victoria Mahoney will helm. For those who don’t know, Mahoney made history by working as the second-unit director on “The Rise of Skywalker,” becoming the first female and the first Black woman to helm a “Star Wars” movie. Gina Prince-Bythewood, who directed “The Old Guard” before her, will continue to serve as a producer on the follow-up but opted out of being in charge so she could devote all of her energies to complete her upcoming historical epic, “The Woman King.”
