The Kingsman franchise continues next year not with Kingsman 3 but a prequel movie set a hundred years ago that’ll tell the story of the founding of the upper class secret service. Rumored to be titled The Great Game, the pic’s already cast Harry Dickinson and Ralph Fiennes in the Eggsy/Galahad-type roles and now, three more stars have been announced to be signing up for Fox’s spy movie.
Rhys Ifans, known for the Harry Potter films and The Amazing Spider-Man, is in talks to portray a character described as “a dangerous and manipulative Russian mystic.” Story leaks have pointed to real-life figure Grigori Rasputin, often associated with mysticism, being the main villain of the piece, so it stands to reason that this is who Ifans is in line to play.
What’s more, Captain America: Civil War’s Zemo Daniel Bruhl and Game of Thrones star Charles Dance have also joined the production in roles that are currently being kept under wraps. If we had to guess, Bruhl’s talent for playing creepy European villains points to him being cast as a Russian ally of Rasputin’s. Meanwhile, Dance tends to play posh authority figures, and given that the prequel will be based around the British military in World War I, he could be playing a high ranking officer.
Sources also saw that Watchmen‘s Matthew Goode is being eyed for a mysterious role. If that comes through, he’ll be joining another hugely impressive cast for the Kingsman franchise, which has never had any trouble attracting big names. The likes of Samuel L. Jackson, Michael Caine and Mark Hamill appeared in The Secret Service, while The Golden Circle brought Halle Berry, Channing Tatum and Julianne Moore on board as well as many others.
The Kingsman prequel is pencilled in for release on November 9th, 2019. Kingsman 3 is then expected to follow the year after, with a Statesman spinoff – focusing on the Kingsman’s American cousins – also in development.