This year has not been kind to Armie Hammer’s career. One minute, he was one of the hottest actors in Hollywood, the next he’s being dropped from projects left, right and center – not to mention by his agents, too – after some extremely troubling allegations against him, including accusations of cannibalism, came to light. Any sequels to his previous movies may have to get creative in working around the fallen star’s absence, then. Case in point: the Man from U.N.C.L.E. follow-up.
2015’s The Man from U.N.C.L.E. from director Guy Ritchie didn’t turn out to be a massive success at the time, but the stylish period spy thriller has become a cult favorite over the years since and talk of a sequel has popped up every now and then. In fact, back in 2017, Hammer was the one who was trying to get things moving on a second outing. But the latest word on the topic is pointing to his role maybe being recast for the film.
Insider Daniel Richtman says the producers are considering replacing the Rebecca actor in the part of Illya Kuryakin, the KGB agent forced to team up with Henry Cavill’s suave CIA guy Napoleon Solo to save the world. As per Richtman’s latest update on his Patreon page, no final decision has been made yet, though, so it’s possible that the character may just be written out. Presumably, another Russian spy would be introduced to retain the same dynamic.
According to the same source, Henry Cavill is set to return for the film and hopefully, Alicia Vikander – whose heroine, Gaby Teller, was also hired by U.N.C.L.E. at the end of the first movie – would be brought back for the sequel, too. Still, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. 2 isn’t officially happening at this stage, with Ritchie busy making a movie with Jason Statham in Turkey right now and no word from the studio. It does, however, sound like it’s beginning to come together behind the scenes.