Even Netflix must have been surprised by the massive success of Extraction, which exploded out of nowhere in April to become the streaming service’s most-watched original movie ever after racking up almost 100 million streams in the first four weeks it was available. On paper, the plot didn’t offer much in the way of originality, but the execution was impeccable.
First-time director Sam Hargrave crafted a series of breathtaking action sequences that saw Chris Hemsworth put himself through the wars as he punched, stabbed and shot his way through an army of enemies, while Hargrave wasn’t above taking a risk or two, either, having strapped himself to the hood of a car in order to add an extra layer of authenticity to the movie’s standout set piece, designed to flow together as one seemingly unbroken take.
The vague and ambiguous ending definitely left the door wide open for sequels, too, and it wasn’t long after Extraction debuted to widespread acclaim that a second outing for Hemsworth’s Tyler Rake was officially announced. And now, in a new interview, writer and co-producer Joe Russo has confirmed that filming is expected to start at some point next year.
“Yeah we’re still working on Extraction 2. We’re in the script phase right now but we’re hoping to shoot that sometime next year. And then you know, say I’m super excited, Hemsworth’s super excited, Netflix is excited so it’s really just a function of getting the script done.”
The leading man will obviously be busy for the first few months of 2021 shooting Thor: Love and Thunder in Australia, so realistically, Extraction 2 won’t kick off production until the latter end of the year, meaning the hotly anticipated sequel will probably arrive on Netflix in 2022. Having been actively seeking out projects with the potential to launch multi-film franchises, though, the company will no doubt be happy to bide their time so that the second installment in the series lives up to the hype.