Gerard Butler and O’Shea Jackson Jr. are set to reprise their roles as ‘Big Nick’ O’Brien and Donnie Wilson, respectively, inDen of Thieves 2: Pantera.The 2018 sequel toDen of Thievesmoves the action to Europe, where the pair become embroiled in a plot involving a diamond heist and find themselvesat odds with the mafia. With Christian Gudegast returning to direct, the sequel aims to double down on the high-stakes action of the first.
Game Rant recently caught up withDen of Thieves 2: Pantera’s director Christian Gudegast and producer Tucker Tooley. The pair discussed how the movie was always supposed tokickstart a franchise, due to the complexity and diversity of heists they researched. They also elaborated on the possibility of future sequels.
Den of Thieves Was Never Intended to Be a Single Movie
Den of Thievesshined a spotlight on the complexity of well-planned heists and the lengths police must go to ensnaring what can be, at times,highly sophisticated and intelligent criminals. Butler’s Big Nick O’Brien is a larger-than-life presence in the first movie, stopping at nothing to catch the bad guys, but in Den of Thieves 2:Pantera,he finds himself working alongside Donnie rather than against him. According to director Gudegast, the sequel had always been planned from the get-go because there’s simply so much content to work with. When asked how the sequel came about, Gudegast explained,
‘‘We always intended to do [a sequel] because, while researching the first one, we came across so many heists from all over the world that were fascinating and equally interesting, and there was no way we could jam all that into one. We had so much content that we couldn’t squeeze it into one movie. We almost had enough content for several seasons or a series about it, so the idea was always to repeat it in various parts of the world.’’
Den of Thieves 2: Pantera Will Likely Not Be the Franchise’s Final Installment
Even thoughDen of Thieves 2: Panterahasn’t been released yet, there is already talk of further sequels. Both Gudegast and Tooley have plenty more material unearthed from diligent research into some of the world’smost elaborate heists, and they are excited to adapt some of this on screen. As Tooley said,
‘‘We have very definitive plans for the next one. As Christian said, we always designed this to be a franchise. You caught the hint at the end of the first, in terms of what would happen in the second, and there’s something in the second that hints at a third as well. It’ll be a whole new environment. It’ll be a whole new thing with the same characters, and we’re super excited to keep this going.’’
Tooley’s statement means that a threequel is very likely, although all eyes are onDen of Thieves 2: Panteraright now. Between the direction of the films, the amount of research done, the names associated with the project, and the confirmed hint toward movie 3, it seemsDen of Thievesis a full-fledged franchise. It’s exciting, especially with names like Butler and Jackson Jr. The on-screen chemistry between the two is reminiscent ofclassic buddy movies such asBad BoysandLethal Weapon. It will likely play a big role in the success of the upcoming sequel, as well as any future movies in the franchise.
