The Kingsman franchise has far exceeded expectations since the first movie was released back in 2015. That was an enormous hit and was soon followed by The Golden Circle, which matched the original’s box office numbers to give the films a near billion dollar gross. With that success behind them, Fox is now eager to get more Kingsman movies into production, but while a Taron Egerton and Colin Firth-starring sequel to The Golden Circle is currently being written, the next outing in the franchise will be a prequel that delves into the history of the organization.
It’s scheduled to start shooting in London in January 2019, with Matthew Vaughan directing, but other than it being set in the past, we haven’t heard much about what it’ll entail – until now. According to Collider, this is Vaughn’s attempt to do a period drama that gives us a secret history of the world as told from the Kingsman organization’s perspective. All this will be focused around the Saville Row tailor base that we’ve seen in the previous two films. There’s even a potential title for the movie: The Man Who Would Be Kingsman, a neat riff on The Man Who Would Be King.
Though we don’t know exactly when this period drama takes place, the Kingsman tailor shop was formed in-universe in 1849. The explanation for their vast wealth and transformation into a spy agency is that by 1919, many of the existing Kingsmen had lost their male heirs in World War I. With so much money set to go uninherited, the founders decided to create an organization that aimed to preserve peace and protect life, using this wealth for the greater good.
My bet for possible settings for the prequel would be the early 1920s origins of the Kingsman as they seek to define themselves in the world. Alternatively, we could see how they participated in World War II, including surviving the London Blitz and taking down prominent Nazis, or perhaps a 1960s setting. Although, I can’t think of any good reason for the latter other than that they had some pretty damn smart suits back then and the Beatles Apple HQ was just down the road from the Kingsman tailors, which might make for some neat cameos.
Either way, once filming begins in London in January, some on-set photos should clear up when this is set pretty damn sharpish. Watch this space for more.