Warning: SPOILERS for Argylle are in play. If you haven’t learned the secrets of Elly Conway’s world of espionage, you’ve been warned.
Director Matthew Vauhgn’s Argylle has to be the first title of the 2024 movie schedule with as many twists and turns as this film has to offer. Thanks to a promising mid-credits scene, there’s some interest as to where this would-be spy franchise could be going in the future. Though after learning the truth behind Agent Aubrey Argylle, that could be understating things just a bit.
Let’s take a look at what happened in the mid-credits scene for Argylle. However, be warned: we’re going to have to talk about the ending in order to really dig in. So if you’re still looking to keep things fresh in the realm of both the screen and the page, then you might be better off reading our Argylle review in the meantime.
Are you still here? Fantastic, as it’s time to proceed with where the Argylle franchise could be headed next.
What Happened In Argylle’s Mid-Credits Scene
After the adventures of author Elle Conway (Bryce Dallas Howard) have concluded, we’re treated to a tease for what’s potentially coming down the pike. Sending us back 20 years in Argylle history, we see young Aubrey (Louis Partridge) show up to a pub with a rather familiar name: The King’s Man.
Asking for a Cosmopolitan from the bartender (Ben Miles), the young Argylle is given a box with a gun and a silencer, and told that if he’s been sent there, he must be in a lot of trouble. Giving his name to the as of yet unnamed barman, we’re shown a title card that tells us that Argylle: Book One - The Movie will be coming soon. And if you’re curious, yes, that scene plays pretty much “as adapted” in Argylle’s literary tie-in; straight out of Chapter 14 of Elly Conway’s novel.
THis is something that further tweaks the potential future of this series, as there are a couple ways this could play out. Here's the last call for bailing out before spoiler town, as we're about to talk about Argylle’s big twist and how it sets the table for two big paths this next installment can walk.
Argylle’s Twist, In A Nutshell
Throughout the plot of Argylle the movie, we learn that Elly Conway isn’t who she says she is. Rather, she’s Agent Rachel Kylle, an operative for The Division. A nefarious rogue organization of sorts led by Director Ritter (Bryan Cranston), Elly’s books have basically been memoirs. What’s more, after a blown operation left her with amnesia, Ritter and Dr. Margaret Vogel (Catherine O’Hara) brainwashed Rachel into thinking she was Elly all along.
The reason for revisiting this big shift in what we knew about Argylle is the fact that there’s a chance things could get even more meta, depending on how Matthew Vaughn decides to move forward. With Elly Conway’s book series now complete, but chock full of details about here life, there are two variants for a follow-up film, both with a unique twist.
The Two Choices The Argylle Franchise Has Moving Forward
One way of playing this Argylle: Book One - The Movie card is letting it proceed at face value. This means Matthew Vaughn and his team can just straight up make the movie version of the book that’s currently on shelves. Sidestepping any concerns for Elly Conway’s reality, we’d potentially see a straight-up movie that shows us Aubrey Argylle emerging from the shadows and becoming the Henry Cavill-starring spy we now know.
That first option is especially important, as Argylle’s opening weekend box office casts doubt on a straightforward sequel. That being said, if Vaughn and company want to continue building off of the fun puzzle box that the first Argylle dove head first into, there's another option. Doubling down on the meta aspect of it all, Argylle 2 could see Elly navigating the world of Hollywood by adapting her own book into a movie.
This, in turn, could make things even more intriguing. While her happy ending with Aidan (Sam Rockwell), Keira (Ariana DeBose) and Alfred (Samuel L. Jackson) all witnessing her final book being read aloud seems like it closes the door on her former life, Elly/Rachel could start remembering things differently than originally written.
At the moment, Matthew Vaughn’s Argylle plans include both options as possibilities. Some serious box office muscle is going to need to show up in the weeks to come for that sort of bullish thinking to even be considered feasible.
What Argylle’s Twist Could Tell Us About Future Books
So what if Argylle takes neither option, and instead opts out of films and TV altogether? Well, there’s always the books, as we know there are supposed to be at least five novels altogether from Elly Conway’s pen. Or, shall we say, from the pens of authors Terry Hayes and Tammy Cohen, the writers revealed by The Telegraph to be the team that actually wrote Argylle: Book One.
Thanks to the snippets we learn about the novel series in the film, we know that future books entail some pretty huge twists. Not to mention, anything we read in the pages of an Elly Conway novel now has the potential to tell us more about the life of hers we don’t learn about in Matthew Vaughn and Jason Fuchs’ picture.
Either way, if Argylle: Books Two through Five are ever published, we’ll have an even greater window into the lives of Rachel Kylle, Elle Conway and the people they used as inspiration for this new potential spy franchise. If MARV Films has anything to say about it, it'll all lead to a potential crossover with the proposed Kingsman cinematic universe.
Which is a good point to tell you that if you’ve somehow read through this rundown without seeing Argylle, it’s ok. Even knowing the secrets doesn’t dampen the fun that can be had at a theater near you, which is exactly where this big ticket adventure is playing out.
However, if you’re waiting for the streaming release of this particular title, you’ll have to be patient. If there’s anything that’s a more tightly-guarded secret than who the real Agent Argylle is, it’s when Apple TV+ subscription holders will get to see this flick on their home theater systems.
