Among last year’s more popular streaming offerings on the movies front was Netflix’s The Old Guard, which starred Charlize Theron as Andy, the leader of a group of immortal mercenaries. It didn’t take long for sequel chatter to begin once the movie was released in July 2020, and this past January, it was reported that The Old Guard 2 had been greenlit. Now we’ve heard word that the sequel has taken a big step forward by hiring a director.
Victoria Mahoney has come aboard to direct The Old Guard 2, taking over the helming reins from Gina Prince-Bythewood. According to Deadline, Prince-Bythewood decided not to direct the sequel because the success of the first movie led to scoring work elsewhere, like making Sony’s The Woman King. However, she’s still attached as a producer.
Making her filmmaking debut with 2011’s Yelling to the Sky, Victoria Mahoney has also directed episodes of TV shows like Grey’s Anatomy, Power, You, I Am the Night and Lovecraft Country, and she served as the second unit director on Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Here’s what Mahoeny had to say about coming aboard for The Old Guard 2:
Genuinely blown backwards by the collective levels of talent, skill and savvy that went into carving The Old Guard. I must’ve watched it over a hundred times, and as such, cannot communicate the true measure of my excitement–being invited on The Old Guard journey alongside ferocious badasses. Ever eager to continue pushing the genre for action-loving audiences. Warmly tipping my hat to the world Gina, Charlize, Rucka, Fernández, Skydance, Netflix, Marc Evans Productions, Denver & Delilah Films and the entire Team daringly put forward.
Furthermore, while it was expected that Charlize Theron would return of The Old Guard 2 (after all, she was also a producer on The Old Guard), she has now closed to appear in the sequel, and she’ll be joined by costars KiKi Layne, Matthias Schoenaerts, Marwan Kenzari, Luca Marinelli, Veronica Ngo and Chiwetel Ejiofor. Greg Rucka, who wrote both the original Old Guard comic book and the first movie, will write the sequel with David Ellison, as well as executive produce. Back in June, Theron said the plan is to start filming The Old Guard 2 in the first quarter of 2022, but that still isn’t set in stone.
With The Old Guard having been viewed by 78 million households in its first four weeks, it’s hardly surprising that Netflix decided to move forward with a sequel, just like the platform’s doing with Extraction and Army of the Dead (sorry, not you, 6 Underground). The production company behind The Old Guard movies, Skydance Media, also recently delivered The Tomorrow War to Amazon Prime Video, and that might get a sequel too. No plot details for The Old Guard 2 have come out yet, although the first movie certainly planted some narrative seeds that are ripe for blooming.
While we wait for more updates on The Old Guard 2’s development, find out what Netflix is delivering in September with our handy guide and learn what the rest of the year’s cinematic calendar looks like with our 2021 release schedule.
