Warning: Some spoilers for Extraction about half way through in case you haven’t yet watched the movie.
Netflix’s high-octane action feature Extraction is on course to become the streaming giant’s most-watched movie to date, beating out its previous blockbuster features like the peak Baysplosion 6 Underground and Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that everyone wants to see more, and that’s just what’s going to happen.
Speaking to Deadline, Extraction writer/producer Joe Russo confirmed that a deal has been struck for him to write a new movie:
“The deal is closed for me to write Extraction 2, and we are in the formative stages of what the story can be. We’re not committing yet to whether that story goes forward, or backward in time. We left a big loose ending that leaves question marks for the audience.”
Russo also stated that he expects stunt coordinator turned first-time director Sam Hargrave will return for the prequel/sequel, and while it’s far too soon to say anything about star Chris Hemsworth having a role to play since he doesn’t yet know where the story will go, it probably wouldn’t be too difficult to get him back on board.
And the spoilers start here, so you’ve been warned.
But can Hemsworth return for a sequel though? When last we saw his character he’d just been shot through the neck, was bleeding profusely, and tumbled off the bridge into the river. Cut to six months later and Ovi, the young boy he rescued, sees a blurry figure watching him from a distance when he surfaces from under the water of a swimming pool in a scene reminiscent from when we first met Tyler Rake. It’s an ambiguous ending, and it turns out that it was deliberately done for a potential sequel, because Rake didn’t survive in the original ending.
As Hargrave explained to Collider:
“We had a version of the movie, and we tested it a lot, and it was not surprising that a lot of people wanted the character to live, and some people wanted him to die. People were torn; it was almost down the middle. We want to appeal to as many people as possible without compromising the integrity of the story. And so, we think a pretty good compromise is to make an ambiguous ending.
If people on one hand feel like the story is complete and is a story of redemption through sacrifice, then for them, it’ll be where the kid is imagining [Rake standing there], and then now you go, ‘Yes, I’m satisfied.’ If you feel like you love Tyler Rake, and you love Chris Hemsworth, and you want a sequel, and you’re like ‘There’s no way, you can’t kill him!’ then that’s Tyler Rake standing there looking at you. So we kind of purposefully did not pull focus to the character standing there.”
Personally I’m a bit torn on whether or not I’d have preferred him to die in the end – I’m leaning towards him not surviving – but I’m very happy we’re going to get some more superb action.
Last Updated: May 5, 2020
