Wanted 2008 Sequel
Astryd Boschee
For more reasons than one, Wanted 2 has still not happened even though the first film was a box office hit. Released in 2008, the Wanted movie was adapted from the Mark Millar comic series of the same name. The film followed a sheepish office worker who learns his father was part of a secret group of assassins known as The Fraternity and is recruited as their newest member. Directed by Timur Bekmambetov and starring James McAvoy, Angelina Jolie, and Morgan Freeman, Wanted is a pulse-pounding action film.
McAvoy plays the main character, Wesley, who gets recruited to be a ruthless, cold-blooded assassin, while Jolie plays his mentor, Fox. Freeman's Sloan oversees Fraternity's missions and doles them out to various Fraternity members. As Wanted progresses, Wesley learns how Sloan has been manipulating him to take out targets without explaining why he is killing people. Although the movie ends on a conclusive note, it leaves room for potential follow-ups.
The Wanted movie ended with James McAvoy's character ready to step into his new role as a highly-trained assassin. And, after the movie made $341 million at the worldwide box office, it was hardly surprising that conversations about a possible Wanted sequel began. That said, it wasn't until 2011 that reports emerged that Universal was seriously exploring developing Wanted 2. Wanted screenwriting team Michael Brandt and Derek Haas had been re-hired to write the script and Bekmambetov attached himself to the sequel, although he had to finish filming on Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter first.
However, he did not specify how exactly that would play out in the movie. He added in a separate interview that the new character taking over the female lead slot from Angelina Jolie would be in a similar position to Wesley in Wanted: "She's got a shitty life. He's sort of in the Fox role." Bekmambetov also shared in an interview promoting Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter that Wanted 2 would have "the same character, same mythology, but it's got a great twist."
Unfortunately, despite initially gaining some momentum, Wanted 2's development has remained stagnant for quite some time. In an interview (via MovieWeb), Michael Brandt revealed he had an idea for the film and even the studio was interested in going ahead with it after he pitched it. The first movie's director, Timur Bekmambetov, also liked the notion of expanding the first film's lore, but he wanted to do it differently. By the time the movie's team could settle on some changes suggested by Bekmambetov, it was already too late to develop the film.
As Brandt revealed, the studio expected them to have a quick turnover rate, which was not possible after Bekmambetov's dissatisfaction with the ideas in Wanted 2's initial script. Owing to this, the prospect of Wanted 2 eventually faded, leaving the project in a limbo. Brandt also added that, every once in a while, he receives calls from producers who ask him if Wanted 2 could still happen. When he hands them the script, they even like his ideas. However, the project always dies when it comes down to getting in touch with the studio.
James McAvoy has played a staggering number of interesting characters in his career, but not all of them are ones he would like to revisit. In a 2021 interview with Screen Rant, however, when asked which characters he would be interested in taking another crack at, he mentioned that "I always fancied seeing what happened to Wesley Gibson in the movie, Wanted." This is far from McAvoy fully committing to appear again as Wesley Gibson, and Wanted 2 still doesn't appear to be happening.
In a post-The Boys world accustomed to extremely confrontational superhero content, a Wanted sequel that takes the series a little closer to its horrifying roots would be not only possible but welcomed, and James McAvoy would be well-positioned to reassume the role.
Still, it is interesting that in a career as long and varied as McAvoy's, Wesley Gibson represents a pair of shoes he'd like to step back into. This is probably a testament to how engaging it was for McAvoy to make Wanted and how well the movie set itself up for a sequel, despite the fact that it never actually happened. In a post-The Boys world accustomed to extremely confrontational superhero content, a Wanted sequel that takes the series a little closer to its horrifying roots would be not only possible but welcomed, and James McAvoy would be well-positioned to reassume the role.
Wanted is a 2008 action thriller film directed by Timur Bekmambetov and written by Michael Brandt, Derek Haas and Chris Morgan, loosely based on the comic book miniseries by Mark Millar and J. G. Jones. The film stars James McAvoy, Morgan Freeman, Angelina Jolie, Terence Stamp, Thomas Kretschmann, Common and Chris Pratt.
Universal Pictures acquired the adaptation rights from Millar in 2004, and while the eventual script drifted from the comic book superhero mythos in the original miniseries, he was content to see most of the comic's darker content retained. Production began in April 2007, with filming in the Czech Republic, Budapest, and the story's main setting, Chicago. Bekmambetov's production company, Bazelevs Production, provided the majority of the film's visual effects. Danny Elfman scored the film, employing a guitar-based musical score.
Wanted opened on June 27, 2008 to generally positive reviews with praise for its fast-pace narrative and stylized action sequences. The film grossed $342 million worldwide. A sequel was announced shortly after the film's release, but ultimately stalled in development.
In Chicago, Wesley Gibson works at a dead-end desk job with an overbearing boss, takes medication for panic attacks, and lives with his abrasive girlfriend Cathy who cheats on him with his co-worker and best friend, Barry.
One evening, Wesley is told by a woman named Fox that his recently murdered father was an assassin. The killer, Cross, is now hunting him. When Cross and Fox engage in a shootout, Wesley panics and flees. Cross pursues Wesley, who Fox manages to help escape. Wesley awakens in a factory surrounded by Fox and other assassins.
The group's leader, Mr. Sloan, forces Wesley at gunpoint to shoot the wings off several flies, which he does. Sloan explains that Wesley's panic attacks are actually a rare ability that allows him to produce massive amounts of adrenaline, granting him superhuman strength and speed. Wesley's father and Cross were members of the Fraternity, a society of assassins that maintains balance in the world, headquartered in a repurposed textile mill. Sloan wants to train Wesley so that he may help kill Cross.
A panicked Wesley leaves the building. The next morning, he discovers that his bank account now contains millions of dollars. Filled with new confidence, he insults his boss in front of the whole office and hits Barry with a keyboard. Wesley trains under the Fraternity's cruel tutelage, learning to control his abilities. When his training is complete, Sloan shows him the "Loom of Fate", which has served for 1,000 years in supplying coded names of targets through deliberate imperfections in the fabric. The Loom identifies those who will create evil and chaos in the future, with Sloan responsible for interpreting the code.
In order to finish what his father started, Wesley decides to kill Sloan. He attacks the base using explosive rats and kills the surviving Fraternity assassins in a shootout. Entering Sloan's office, he is surrounded by Fox and the remaining assassins. Wesley discloses Sloan's deception, and Sloan admits his name appeared in the loom alongside the names of those present, saying he had acted to protect them. He gives the members a choice: kill themselves, per the code, or kill Wesley and use their skills to control the world. As the others choose to kill Wesley, Fox curves a bullet around the room, choosing to follow the code and kill everyone, including herself, and Sloan escapes in the mayhem.
Wesley, penniless again due to his bank account being wiped out by Sloan, apparently returns to his desk job. Sloan arrives to kill him but is shocked when the person is revealed to be a decoy. Wesley subsequently kills Sloan with a sniper rifle from Cross' apartment miles away.
Universal was initially reluctant on giving a potentially lucrative action film to a filmmaker who had never made an English-language film, but Platt convinced the studio that he could "create an environment that would allow Timur to be himself as a filmmaker and exercise his creative muscles."[6]
Millar was unhappy with the first draft of the screenplay, considering the approach to be "too tame" and "a little bit Americanized" given he wanted "basically be the opposite of the Spider-Man movie, the idea of someone getting powers and realizing they can do what they want, then choosing the dark path." The author only started to support the direction the project was taking once Bekmambetov "came in with his Eastern European madness" and the intention of coming closer to the spirit of the book.[9] Bekmambetov said that he would take liberty in adapting the comic book's world: "It's difficult for me to just follow. It's interesting for me to create. I feel a little bit different how this world has to be executed."[8] In July 2006, screenwriter Chris Morgan was hired to revise the third act of Haas and Brandt's script.[10]Haas and Brandt returned to refine the character of Wesley Gibson, which they had established in their first draft.[11]
Millar saw previsualized footage of the film and said that it exceeded his expectations for the adaptation.[12] He described its first half as being close to the source comic, and added the ending was similar though it was relocated elsewhere from the comic's original setting. The superhero costumes in the series were also removed, with the exception of the leather attire worn by Wesley and Fox. Incidentally, this had been Millar's intent when writing the miniseries, but he and artist J. G. Jones had forgotten to. Millar said, "I wanted them to have those powers and then just wear those costumes for the initiation, but just for one panel. And then I forgot." Millar also stated that he would have liked to keep the supervillain mythos that dictates the original comic in the film.[9] Millar was favorable to most of the changes in the storyline,[13] which includes the story arc of the Fates issuing death orders in line with the series' original theme of predestination.[14]
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