Headed up by Charlize Theron, The Old Guard is the superhero movie where she stars as Andy, a warrior who is immortal and has been influencing history for centuries. It’s based on the comic book series by Greg Rucka. Also, The Old Guard is one of the best-received Netflix original films of recent memory.
It’s coming up two years since The Old Guard premiered on Netflix. Filming has finally now begun on the long-awaited sequel and we’ve got new casting news. Here’s everything we know about The Old Guard 2, which has also been referred to as The Old Guard Chapter Two: Force Multiplied.
The Old Guard 2 will be directed by Victoria Mahoney, who has previous directing credits on Lovecraft Country and Queen Sugar. The Old Guard was directed by Gina-Prince Bythewood, but both films were written by Greg Rucka, the graphic novel’s original writer, which inspired the franchise.
Background
The first film follows Andromache of Scythia, A.K.A. Andy (Charlize Theron), is an immortal warrior who leads a squad of undying soldiers on missions around the world for the good of humanity. They go up against pharma-bro Steven Merrick (Harry Melling), who wants to see if their bodies can be harvested for properties he can sell to the rest of the world. Luckily, the team has a little help from rookie immortal, Nile Freeman (KiKi Layne), a U.S. soldier in Afghanistan who discovers her new-found life when one of her missions goes wrong.
The story comes from the Image Comics series, which was written by Greg Rucka with art by Leandro Fernández. Comic book fans will probably recognize Rucka’s name thanks to his time on books like Wonder Woman, Gotham Central, Infinite Crisis, Wolverine, and The Punisher. With such a rich history, it’s no surprise fans are desperate to know The Old Guard 2 release date.
What is The Old Guard 2’s release date?
The second The Old Guard movie does not have an official release date yet. If the second movie follows the same production schedule and release trend as the first movie, chances are, we may see the sequel around summer 2023.
What is The Old Guard 2 about?
A logline for the new film hasn’t been released yet, but the first Old Guard ended on an unresolved note. After Booker betrayed the group, he was exiled for a century — only to find the long-lost Quynh lurking in his apartment. What does she want?
In Greg Rucka’s Old Guard graphic novels, Noriko, the character on which Quynh is based, becomes a criminal kingpin. She goes on to seek out Booker and tracks down Andy, bitter at being abandoned. Whether or not Quynh follows a similar trajectory remains to be seen, but we do know that Theron, who’s a producer on the movie, is eager to unpack that connection a bit more.
“There’s obviously a relationship there that we didn’t really explore in this film,” Theron told Seth Meyers in 2020. “So I’m excited if we get the chance to make another one, to explore that because then we’re just adding another female into the mix, which I think will make it really interesting.” With Andy’s immortality apparently running out, it could be a difficult reunion.
An official synopsis gives us a broad overview of what we can expect from the sequel:
“Andromache of Scythia and her band of soldiers are back in this second story chronicling the battles and burdens of their dubious immortality. Nile’s addition to the team has given them new purpose and new direction, but when you’ve got 6,000 years of history at your back, the past is always ready to return—with a vengeance.”
The Old Guard 2 cast
All of the main cast will return for the sequel, so that’s Charlize Theron as Andy, KiKi Layne as the Nile, Matthias Schoenaerts as Booker, Marwan Kenzari as Joe, and Luca Marinelli as Nicky.
Chiwetel Ejiofor’s Copley has now seen the error of his ways and, at the end of the first movie, is tasked with ensuring the team remains hidden from anyone who would do them harm (like Merrick).
Ejiofor has been confirmed to return too, but it’s unclear if he’ll have a major role to play in the sequel or will just be an M-like figure on the outside.
Instead, it seems that Veronica Ngo will play a key part in the sequel as the returning Quynh, but it’s not yet clear whether that will be as a friend or foe to the team.
In the comics, Quynh’s character is named Noriko and is Japanese. The decision to change it came after Veronica Ngo was cast, and it doesn’t mean that another character called Noriko will arrive in the sequel.
“When Veronica was cast, she said, ‘I’m not Japanese, I’m Vietnamese’. [Director Gina Prince-Bythewood] reached out to me and said, ‘Can we accommodate that?’ and I was like, ‘Absolutely’,” Greg Rucka confirmed.
“Noriko becomes Quynh, Quynh is now Vietnamese. It really was as simple as wanting to honor that and be respectful of that.”
It’s also possible that we could see more of Michael Ward as fallen Old Guard member Lykon.
We saw him die in flashbacks to Andy and Quynh’s time together, but could there be more to his story? He’s the only immortal we’ve heard of to die, so it could be something explored as we get more of Andy and Quynh’s relationship.
Two new faces have been confirmed for the sequel in the form of Uma Thurman and Henry Golding. We don’t yet know who they’ll be playing and whether, like Quynh, they’ll be friends or foes to Andy and her team.
