Do you feel like you're in a time loop? Well, you’re not the only one. Back in 2014, Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt suited up for Doug Liman’s epic action movie Edge of Tomorrow. The movie has loads of fans. and there's been chitter-chatter about Edge of Tomorrow 2 plans over the years, but it’s still not clear if or when the trio would return for another time-twisted alien war flick.
Doug Liman’s latest film, Locked Down, just dropped on HBO Max, and in between promoting the Anne Hathaway and Chiwetel Ejiofor-led quarantine movie, the director spoke up about what would speed up the development for an Edge of Tomorrow sequel. In his words to Collider:
It’s one of these things where if Tom, Emily, and I were to say, ‘We’re ready to pull the trigger on this script,’ it’s Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt, the film gets made. That’s pretty much how Hollywood works. The stars are the gatekeepers. If you can get Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt to commit to the movie, it’s going to happen.
To that end, Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt are quite busy right now. Liman is about to work with Cruise again and go into space (seriously, actual space!!) for a groundbreaking movie, which is expected to shoot later this year. And Emily Blunt is always hard at work on another project, currently with A Quiet Place Part II and Jungle Cruise expected to come out this year.
Doug Liman explained that it comes down to the actors really clearing their schedule a bit for Edge of Tomorrow 2 and expressing enthusiasm for it. Both of the actors have shared their interest in moving forward before, but Blunt has also confessed some reservations she has with sequels, saying she would only return if it was on par with the original film.
Back in early 2019, reports indicated that Warner Bros was actively developing the sequel, and Doug Liman has previously shared some extensive brainstorming happening for the movie before with wall-to-wall whiteboards of blurred-out plotlines. But according to the director, a lot of the ideas for the original movie got moving on set. In his words:
For Live Die Repeat, the script wasn’t there when we started shooting. Tom and I often laugh about this, that during prep on that movie we’d say to ourselves, ‘There’s nothing like a looming start date for the shoot to put pressure down to get the script right.’ And then while we were shooting the movie, we’d say to ourselves, ‘There’s nothing like a looming wrap date to really put pressure down to getting the script done.’ Then when we're editing the movie, we’re like, ‘There’s nothing like a looming release date to force you to get the script right.’ These are really big, imaginative movies.
That’s one way to make a movie. Edge of Tomorrow certainly impressed many people. The 2014 film was based on the Japanese light novel All You Need Is Kill by Hiroshi Sakurazaka. The fact that it keeps coming up certainly shows the continued interest in Edge of Tomorrow 2 moving forward, but based on Doug Liman’s words, it doesn’t seem to be moving smoothly or be high on the actors' lists for now, especially as Tom Cruise finishes filming his next Mission: Impossible films a year after the start date.
Doug Liman’s Locked Down is on HBO Max now, and his YA dystopian adaptation, Chaos Walking, arrives in March.
