Ryan Gosling's been a little busy lately, what with all of the Ken-ergy he's been unleashing as the master of the Mojo Dojo Casa House in the Barbie movie. He previously starred in Netflix's The Gray Man as a very un-Ken kind of character, but is his schedule too packed for The Gray Man 2?
News hit last July that The Gray Man universe was expanding and that a sequel to the most expensive Netflix movie was officially greenlit by the steamer. The follow-up to the 2022 action flick—which starred Gosling as a CIA agent on the run from a sociopathic mercenary (played by Chris Evans)—will reportedly see the return of directors Joe and Anthony Russo as well as screenwriter Stephen McFeely, but what about its A-list leading man?
So, will Gosling's Courtland Gentry be back for round two? During a November 2023 interview with Collider, Scott Stuber, Head of Netflix Film, discussed the future of The Gray Man franchise and how the proposed sequel will slow down to spend more time with its "incredible actors" like Gosling:
When we talk about it, the advantage we have is we have incredible actors; they're watchable, they're unique. So, you know, Joe and Anthony [Russo] have talked about, 'If we go back to it, how do we spend time with this guy, Ryan Gosling,' who I think is incredible. I just watch what he's doing right now, and I don't know if there's a better actor out there in terms of his range and what he's accomplishing. The ability to have him in a franchise like that is huge, so we gotta really slow down and make sure, 'What makes that character great, and how do we really extend that story?
In the fast-moving thriller, Gosling and Evans are joined by a star-studded cast that includes Evans' Knives Out co-star Ana de Armas, Bridgerton hunk Regé-Jean Page, Jessica Henwick, Alfre Woodard, and Billy Bob Thornton.
Though Stuber praised the original film's actors, he also played coy when asked flat-out if the sequel was still happening:
I think that's a maybe... I think we gotta get it right. You know, the guys would admit, they had the biggest theatrical hit of all time, and moving into streaming, they were aspirationally trying to do that for their own, like, 'How do we make the biggest thing of all time?' And we probably put too much action in that movie. There were too many action set pieces, and I think we should have slowed down a little bit on the character.
However, the Russo Brothers were more hopeful about the film's future, with Joe Russo revealing to Collider back in April that there was development on the sequel script:
We’re in the middle of it right now. We’re in the middle of working on 'The Gray Man 2' script, so, again, everything is about the story. We are hard at work, sleeves rolled up, and more to come soon.
As of now, the release date for The Gray Man 2 remained unconfirmed, though it's unlikely you'll see the title on the 2024 movie schedule; rumors have it set for 2025.
As you await more intel on the sequel, though, you can see Gosling in all of his gun-toting glory in the original The Gray Man film, available to stream with a Netflix subscription.
