2008’s Wanted co-writer Michael Brandt reveals that there’s a completed sequel script and explains why it still has not been made.
“We had an idea for a sequel. We pitched it, we wrote it, and it seems like there was some real interest in the studio to make it,” Brandt said in an interview with MovieWeb. “And then Timur, who directed the first one, absolutely was interested as well. But he had a kind of a different idea for what he wanted to do… And it’s just one of those moments where somebody says the wrong thing in terms of our movie going forward and the script that we’d written going forward. And he suggested some changes. And it kind of took the wind out of the sails at the studio. And then, the studio’s turnover is ‘fast and furious,’ to borrow a phrase. And I think the sequel of Wanted just kind of got left behind as other things started going forward.”
Based on the comic series by Mark Millar and J. G. Jones, Wanted starred James McAvoy as a frustrated Chicago office worker who discovers how his panic attacks give him superhuman strength and gets recruited by an assassin guild called the Fraternity. Directed by Timur Bekmambetov and co-starring Angelina Jolie, Morgan Freeman, and an early appearance by Chris Pratt, Wanted earned positive raves from critics and grossed $342 million worldwide.
Will Wanted 2 ever get made?
At the time of Wanted’s release, Millar teased his sequel idea that would have explored the international guild of assassins set up in the first movie with McAvoy’s character set to return. While Wanted 2 remains in limbo, Brandt says there’s often interest from studio executives about reviving the property.
“I do get a call every now and then from some producer who says, ‘Can we reinvigorate this thing?’ And I say, ‘Yeah, here’s the script.’ And they say, ‘Wow, we love the script.’ And I say, ‘Cool, call the studio.’ And then it seems to die there for some reason,” Brandt explained.
