When you think of movies that had the potential to launch entire cinematic universes, Matthew Vaughn’s Kingsman: The Secret Service didn’t seem like one of the more likely options. The R-rated action comedy managed to put a fresh spin on the familiar espionage genre though and was a critical and commercial success after earning over $400m at the box office.
An inevitable sequel followed, and while The Golden Circle was greeted by much less enthusiastic reviews, it still made just as much money as its predecessor. While a third installment always seemed likely to happen, it was soon announced that the Kingsman franchise was going to be spun off in numerous directions.
First up is imaginatively-titled prequel The King’s Man, which is set to hit theaters in February next year, while American-set spinoff Statesman has also been tentatively announced, with Matthew Vaughn keen to expand the series onto the small screen as well. During all of this, the rumors of Kingsman 3 have been left by the wayside, but star Taron Egerton recently confirmed that the movie does have a script, but he isn’t sure when it will actually get in front of cameras.
“I’m really not allowed to say anything, but there is a script. It’s a really neat idea. The plan, at the moment, is that we’d like to do another one, one more time. It was the role that kind of started my film career so I’m always going to feel, you know, a great fondness for the part. I would like to do one more because frankly, I’d like to say goodbye to Eggsy in a befitting way and to finish the trilogy. All good things come to an end. It was always imagined as a trilogy and I think it’d be great to finish the story off because I’ve loved playing the character.”
With the first two pics combining to earn over $800m at the box office, even if The King’s Man doesn’t hit those heights, we’re still talking about a billion-dollar franchise, which means that Kingsman 3 will see the light of day at some point in the near future. Egerton clearly has a fondness for the role that helped launch his career, too, so hopefully both he and Matthew Vaughn will eventually get the chance to bring Eggsy’s story full circle.