Netflix is gearing up to expand on its recent string of action movie successes, including 2021’s Red Notice. Starring Ryan Reynolds, Dwayne Johnson and Gal Gadot as a trio of thieves, two sequels were greenlit by the streaming service after the success of the first film. Both sequels are being written concurrently, but other details on the progress of Red Notice 2 and 3 have been thin.
In a recent interview to promote her upcoming action movie Heart of Stone, Gal Gadot shared an update on Red Notice 2, saying “We’re all talking about it. I don’t know if I can say anything! I already read the second script and it’s… whoo! We’re all very excited about it!” While Gadot’s update doesn’t give much away, it suggests that development is moving forward and things are looking positive to start production on the hotly-anticipated sequels.
The hugely successful Red Notice is coming back for two more movies in the action franchise. Red Notice currently tops the Netflix all-time Most Popular Films (English), with 454,200,000 hours watched and 230,900,000 total views on the streaming service as of June 18, 2023.
Ryan Reynolds, Gal Gadot and Dwayne Johnson are all confirmed to return, along with writer and director Rawson Marshall Thurber. Thurber has previously directed Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story and Central Intelligence.
The goal was to film the second and third movies back-to-back, but with the three stars involved in a number of high-profile projects and business ventures, the scheduling conflicts are rumoured to have been a source of delay for the production. There’s no news yet on whether other characters from the first film, such as Rita Arya’s Inspector Urvashi Das, will return for the sequels.
It’s also likely that production has been stalled until the production and leading actors are happy with the script, so Gal Gadot’s statement hopefully means that the screenplay is now in a place where production can move forward. Depending on if changes are required, however, it’s still possible that further delays may occur due to the ongoing Writer’s Guild of America (WGA) strike.
Netflix is gearing up to invest heavily in the action genre. In addition to the Red Notice franchise, Netflix has seen massive success with recent action movies such as Jennifer Lopez’s The Mother and Chris Hemsworth’s Extraction franchise.
At the TUDUM 2023 event, just two days after the release of Extraction 2, Hemsworth and director Sam Hargrave confirmed that Extraction 3 is coming. In an interview with Collider, Hargrave has also hinted at possible spin-offs within the Extraction universe, like a movie centred around fan-favourite character Yaz.
Lopez has publicly discussed the possibility of a sequel to The Mother, saying “I think it should be called ‘The Daughter’” but nothing has been confirmed yet.
Then of course, there’s also Gadot’s new movie Heart of Stone. The film also stars Fifty Shades of Grey actor Jamie Dornan and British-Indian Alia Bhatt, making her American film debut. Bhatt is one of India’s highest paid actors, known for her roles Brahmastra Part One: Shiva and Gangubai Kathiawadi.
Heart of Stone will premiere on August 11, 2023 on Netflix.