Quentin Tarantino fans may associate Vivica A. Fox with her role as Vernita Green (a.k.a. Copperhead) in Volume 1 of the excellent vengeance story Kill Bill. Based on her long list of credits, she’s been pretty busy since then and is set to star in a Hallmark Channel movie called Annie Claus is Coming to Town. During an interview to discuss the holiday TV movie, Fox spoke briefly about Kill Bill Volume 3 and offered some interesting, albeit completely hypothetical (from the sound of it) scenarios that might bring her back to the story for the third installment.
If you’ve seen Kill Bill Vol. 1, you know that things don’t work out so well for Vernita. Such was the case for everyone whose name ended up on the Bride’s kill list. Vernita died in her kitchen after trying to shoot the Bride through a box of Kaboom cereal. The whole thing was very bloody-suburban (watch it below). If there’s ever a loose end left in the first two movies, it’s that Vernita’s daughter Nikki witnessed her mother lying dead on the floor just after Beatrix put a knife through her chest. The Bride’s response, as she wiped off her blade and turned to the little girl was, “It was not my intention to do this in front of you. For that, I’m sorry. You can take my word for it, your mother had it coming. When you grow up, if you still feel raw about it, I’ll be waiting.”
Whether or not Nikki returns for Volume 3, we don’t know. The film, which is listed as "announced" and slated for a 2014 release, according to IMDB, is rumored to be set ten years after Volume 2 (released 2004). Assuming young Nikki was between the ages of six and eight (that’s a guess) when her mother died, she might be at the prime age to pursue Beatrix in Volume 3.
When the Hollywood Reporter asked Fox about there being any chance of a flashback or a cameo in Volume 3 that might include Vernita, her response was hopeful and a little bit humorous...
Quentin Tarantino is such a genius, that I am really hoping it will either be a flashback or something that he can show Vernita Green playing with her daughter [Nikki], teaching her some moves, or passing on some messages that she remembers. I would definitely tell her to ‘Watch out with that cereal box, don’t try that move on The Bride, cause she’s also good with the knife.’ Maybe it’ll be a flashback or something like that, but I definitely hope to be a part of it.
There’s definite potential for a Nikki storyline if that’s the direction Tarantino goes for, although it’ll be hard to choose a side if that's the case. On one hand, Beatrix had a point when she said Vernita had it coming, but it’s doubtful Nikki would agree with that. The woman killed her mother. It'd be understandable if she was still raw about it after ten years. Perhaps after an epic battle between a trained Nikki and Beatrix, the two will put their differences aside and set their sights on a bigger target together. This is, of course, assuming Nikki even makes an appearance in the film at all. And if she does, hopefully Tarantino will find a way to bring Fox back in some form or another. In the meantime, we have this to look back on...
Edit to add, based on the above video, it looks like Nikki's actually about four when her mother died, so unless they aged her up for the sake of the story, she'd be a bit on the young side to try to go up against Beatrix. Then again, how old was O-ren Ishii when she exacted vengeance for her parents' death?
