Matthew Vaughn has firmly established himself as one of the most exciting directors of his generation, and his early films Layer Cake and Stardust proved that he could master multiple genres. He adapted Mark Millar’s subversive espionage comic book series Kingsman into one of its era’s best R-rated action franchises. After Kingsman: The Secret Service blew audiences away with its sheer absurdity, Vaughn reunited the original cast for the somewhat underwhelming sequel Kingsman: The Golden Circle. He next ventured into the past with his prequel The King’s Man, which explored the origins of the British intelligence network during the World War I era.
Since The King’s Man‘s release in December 2021, viewers have been wondering where the franchise may head. With Vaughn and Taron Egerton having claimed that there would be a new film added to the franchise, updates of the new projects were few and far between. However, it has now been confirmed that Kingsman: The Blue Blood and Kings Man: The Traitor King will be added to the franchise. Despite confirmation of the new film, production reportedly has not yet commenced. The franchise has also expanded thanks to the revelation of Vaughn’s latest film, Argylle, suggesting a larger cinematic universe at play. With the unique franchise having many options to consider when crafting its next project, here’s where we think the franchise may go from here.
Update February 21, 2024: Following the post-credit scene for Argylle hinting at a much larger Kingsman universe, this article has been updated with more details about the franchise and where it could go.
A Third Kingsman Film That Concludes the Original Cast
Kingsman: The Golden Circle was generally seen as a significant step down compared to the original film; the reintroduction of Agent Harry Hart (Colin Firth) felt like a strange direction for the franchise to move towards, as his death had a significant emotional impact on the first film, and led Eggsy (Egerton) to begin developing as an independent hero. That being said, Kingsman: The Golden Circle is far from the disaster many claim it is.
Vaughn has seen his other franchises completely butchered by underwhelming sequels; Kick-Ass 2 lost the satirical edge that had many of Vaughn’s original films from 2010 so entertaining, and any signs of the originality that Vaughn brought to the X-Men franchise with First Class were pretty much absent by the time Dark Phoenix hit theaters in 2019. The Golden Circle might not have been a classic, but as far as highly anticipated comic book adaptations go, it’s far from being a disaster on the level of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 or Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice.
It will certainly be interesting to see Firth, Egerton, and the other returning cast members reunite for an excellent third chapter in the original Kingsman story to close out their adventures together and perhaps hint at what a future generation might be capable of. These characters ended up appealing to audiences that would be invested in seeing their respective fates, and making one more great movie to close out the trilogy would be a perfect way to ramp up excitement for future spinoffs and a broader cinematic universe. Adding to the appeal of the third movie is the fact that Vaughn has also spoken about his desire to add Dwayne Johnson to the already exciting cast. Vaughn plans to cast Johnson in the role of a yet unnamed villain in The Blue Blood, but that’s still to be confirmed.
A Sequel To The King’s Man
The King’s Man starred Ralph Fiennes as Orlando Oxford, the Duke of Oxford, who created the organization and became the first “Arthur” in command of the Kingsman’s version of the Knights of the Round Table. While the first two films had a strong element of dark comedy, The King’s Man was much more subdued and serious and truly invested in what the ramifications of war looked like. Orlando is motivated to continue the Kingsman after the death of his son, Conrad (Harris Dickinson), and by the end of the film, he assembles a new team.
While the first film ends its story right after the ending of World War I, it appears that the series plans to continue into the World War II era. A post-credit scene teased David Kross as a young Adolf Hitler, who would presumably serve as the next major villain. The association between the Kingsman films and real-world history has been fascinating, and it’s been a way for the prequel to stand out tonally from the first two installments.
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Considering that Vaughn has done such a great job at homaging the James Bond franchise, it would be interesting to see him tackle different eras in the Kingsman’s history. Vaughn clearly has an affinity for 1960s Bond movies, as even X-Men: First Class feels indebted to From Russia With Love and Goldfinger.
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Vaughn has now confirmed that The King’s Man sequel will focus on the rise of Hitler. The director has also said that the new film will be titled The Traitor King. Speaking to Collider, Vaughn said “The next one is about the rise of Hitler, and how Hitler did come to power and basically was supported by the English aristocracy.” He went on to say:
“So I was like, ‘well that’s interesting’ and how the world was worrying so much about Communism, that Fascism rose up. And I look at the world at the moment, everyone getting distracted and worrying about this [and that] and if you worry too much about [this] bad things can happen here. So it is a story that I think needs to be recalled. We’re calling it
The Traitor King
.”
Since Vaughn incorporated so many key historical events into The King’s Man, it might be interesting to go through major milestones throughout the 20th century and examine how the Kingsman may have been intertwined. The Traitor King might hint at the film’s possible plotline.
With the film set to take place in World War II and the rise of Adolf Hitler, the film’s title might be in reference to Edward VIII. Edward VIII inherited the throne after the death of his father, George V, in January 1936. He then would abdicate the throne with his younger brother, who would become King George VI, assuming the throne. This plays out partially in The King’s Speech. Edward VIII gained a reputation as a Nazi sympathizer, and in 1937 he and his wife, Wallis Simpson, toured Nazi Germany. During his visit, he is said to have dined with high-ranking Nazis such as Joseph Goebbels, Joachim von Ribbentrop, and even Adolf Hitler himself.
That certainly sounds like the type of setup for a Kings Man sequel, as in the alternate history of the film, Edward could have been working with the Nazi and the organization must dispatch him. Putting the Kingsman agents against the brother of their current king certainly raises plenty of storytelling possibilities and allows Vaughn to explore many of the political themes he has put front and center in the franchise as a way for him to address some of his frustration with the British people such as class and colonization.
What Argylle’s Post-Credit Scene Means
For everyone who’s been eagerly waiting for the third Kingsman installment, the ending of Argylle was probably a very exciting tease. That film’s central hook revolved around the “real” Agent Agrylle, a character that plays out, and Elly Conaway’s (Bryce Dallas Howard) book series, played by Henry Cavill. The film reveals that Elly herself is the real agent, Argylle, but then, in a second twist, Henry Cavill plays a character who is present at the reveal of her new book, implying there is more to the story.
On top of that, the film’s post-credit scene showed a young Argylle, played by Lous Patridge, is, in fact, a Kingsman agent. This not only suggests that Kingsman and Argylle exist within the same universe, but that Elly’s books were not just her own adventures but also those of Argylle, possibly a fellow agent of hers. This certainly has left fans to think that the two franchises could crossover. Matthew Vaughn has not denied it.
“Well, I’m hoping with Marv, we’ve got
Kingsman
on the left, we have
Argylle
on the right, and I do think there’s a space in the middle where I haven’t played with yet. But both could help me get into the middle ground.”
Television
Kingsman: The Golden Circle introduced the American counterpart of the Kingsman agency, The Statesman. They were a cowboy-themed spy organization that was themed around alcohol and liquor. The Statesman were originally supposed to get their own film, but in 2021 it was announced the project had been changed to a television series. No word on the series has been made since, but it is clear the intention is that Kingsman wants to expand out as a multi-media franchise the way the MCU and Star Wars have.
As for where the series will likely air, that is anyone’s guess. The Kingsman franchise has been distributed by 20th Century Pictures and many assumed they held the rights. Matthew Vaughn told Collider that his production company, Marv, actually owns the rights to the Kingsman franchise. Meaning that he does not need to wait for approval from 20th Century Studios’ new parent company, Disney, and have it fit into their release schedule for a film or television show.
He could theoretically take it to another streamer, like Apple, who just distributed Argylle or any other studio that would want to have another franchise in their stable. A Statesman series at Apple TV+ would certainly be good for the streamer, as they have found a good balance mixing original series like Ted Lasso, Severance, and The Morning Show with IP projects like Monarch: Legacy of Monsters.
When Can We Expect The New Movie?
The third Kingsman movie will definitely happen, regardless of the countless delays that have caused fans to lose faith. Matthew Vaughn himself has confirmed that it will, but aside from the known issues that have caused delays in the industry (first the COVID-19 pandemic and then WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes), there is one particular bump in the road that is keeping them from starting production. The movie will happen, but they will probably start making it next year, which means it will come out in 2026, at the earliest, because of Egerton’s busy schedule.
“That’ll be the next year, because Taron’s bloody busy. He’s doing another movie, the guy that did
Blackbird
, they’re doing another big TV show. So I have to wait for his availability as well.”
The good thing is that now the filmmaker is free to be as creative as he wants. Now, the films just need a distributor. It could be 20th Century Pictures, or it could be another studio like Apple, Netflix, Amazon, Paramount, Universal, or Warner Bros. Following Argylle’s box office disappointment, it seems unlikely the big shared universe plans will move forward, and instead, Kingsman will refocus. With it having almost been ten years since the release of Kingsman: The Secret Service, fans are certainly hoping that Vaughn at least can conclude his trilogy and possibly pass the series and its various spin-offs off to new creatives.
-
kingsman
- Release Date
- December 13, 2014
- Runtime
- 129
-
Argylle
- Release Date
- February 2, 2024
- Runtime
- 2hr 15min
