Matthew Vaughn has firmly established himself as one of the most exciting directors of his generation, and his early films Layer Cake and Stardust proved that he could master multiple genres. While Vaughn got a taste of what franchise storytelling looked like thanks to Kick-Ass and X-Men: First Class, he ended up taking in a franchise where he had unlimited creative control. He adapted Mark Millar’s subversive espionage comic book series Kingsman into one of the best R-rated action franchises of its era. After Kingsman: the Secret Service blew audiences away with its sheer absurdity, Vaughn reunited the original cast for the somewhat underwhelming sequel Kingsman: The Golden Circle. He next ventured into the past with his prequel The King’s Man, which explored the origins of the British intelligence network during the World War I era.
It’s somewhat unclear where the franchise will go from here. While Vaughn and Taron Egerton had previously stated that the new film Kingsman: The Blue Blood could begin filming in 2023, there’s been no updates on the proposed sequel since. Similarly, Vaughn hinted at the possibility of making additional spinoffs, but it doesn’t appear that anything has been in active development since The King’s Man hit theaters during the holiday season of 2021. The unique franchise has many options to consider when crafting its next project.
A Third Film That Concludes the Original Cast
Kingsman: The Golden Circle was generally seen as a major step down compared to the original film; the reintroduction of Agent Harry Hart (Colin Firth) felt like a strange direction for the franchise to move towards, as his death had a significant emotional impact on the first film, and led Eggsy (Egerton) to begin developing as an independent hero. Julianne Moore seemed to have fun as the film’s new antagonist, but she was vastly overshadowed by Samuel L. Jackson’s electrifying role as the central villain in Kingsman: The Secret Service. The death of Merlin (Mark Strong) was also somewhat underwhelming, as despite the emotional impact his final moments have on screen, losing such a unique and pivotal character early on in the franchise may not have been in its best interests.
That being said, Kingsman: The Golden Circle is far from the disaster that many claim that it is. Vaughn has seen his other franchises completely butchered by underwhelming sequels; Kick-Ass 2 lost the satirical edge that had many Vaughn’s original film from 2010 so entertaining, and any signs of the originality that Vaughn brought to the X-Men franchise with First Class were pretty much absent by the time Dark Phoenix hit theaters in 2019. The Golden Circle might not have been a classic, but as far as highly anticipated comic book adaptations go, it’s far from being a disaster on the level of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 or Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice.
It would certainly be interesting to see Firth, Egerton, and the other returning cast members reunite for an excellent third chapter in the original Kingsman story to close out their adventures together, and perhaps hint at what a future generation might be capable of. These characters ended up appealing to audiences that would be invested in seeing their respective fates, and making one more great movie to close out the trilogy would be a perfect way to ramp up excitement for future spinoffs and a broader cinematic universe. The second film had also introduced the American agents known as “The Statesman,” and included additional cast members such as Jeff Bridges, Channing Tatum, and Pedro Pascal; it would be fun to see these characters return in more significant roles so that they could work hand-in-hand with the Kingsman.
A Sequel to The King’s Man
The King’s Man starred Ralph Fiennes as Orlando Oxford, the Duke of Oxford, who creates the organization and becomes the first “Arthur” in command of the Kingsman’s version of the Knights of the Round Table. While the first two films had a strong element of dark comedy, The King’s Man was much more subdued and serious, and truly invested in what the ramifications of war looked like. Orlando is motivated to continue the Kingsman after the death of his son, Conrad (Harris Dickinson), and by the end of the film assembles a new team. While The King’s Man wasn’t a massive financial success, it was released during a packed holiday season against the box office giant that was Spider-Man: No Way Home, and may have found a second life on streaming services.
Shola (Dijmon Hounsou), Polly (Gemma Arterton), King George (Tom Hollander), Archie (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), and the U.S. Ambassador to the U.K. (Stanley Tucci) all join Orlando’s new team, and this would simply be a great cast to follow throughout multiple sequels. While the first film ends its story right after the ending of World War I, it already appears that the series plans to continue into the World War II era. A post-credit scene teased David Kross as a young Adolf Hitler, who would presumably serve as the next major villain. The association between the Kingsman films and real world history has been fascinating, and it’s been a way for the prequel to stand out tonally from the first two installments.
A New Kingsman Era
Considering that Vaughn has done such a great job at parodying the James Bond franchise, it would be interesting to see him tackle different eras in the Kingsman’s history. Vaughn clearly has an affinity for 1960s Bond movies, as even X-Men: First Class feels indebted to From Russia With Love and Goldfinger. This might be an interesting setting for another Kingsman spin-off series that turns the franchise into a more fluid set of anthology adventures.
Since Vaughn incorporated so many key historical events into The King’s Man, it might be interesting to go through major milestones throughout the 20th century and look at how the Kingsman may have been intertwined. Considering that Kingsman was a property owned by 20th Century Fox that now belongs to Disney, there are possibilities to develop projects on Disney’s various streaming outlets, such as Disney+, Hulu, or FX.
