Argylle is meant to be a new franchise starter with Henry Cavill in a major role, but the movie actually continued a bad trend for him over the last few years. The actor has become one of the more recognizable actors in Hollywood in recent years thanks to a series of high-profile roles and franchises. This all led to playing Agent Argylle in Argylle, the 2024 action movie from director Matthew Vaughn that is part of a plan for an interconnected spy universe. Henry Cavill plays a prominent role in the movie, even though he is not the main character.
By the time that Argylle‘s ending comes to a close, Henry Cavill’s future in the franchise is given one more twist. Since he plays the fictional version of Argylle from the imagination and books of Elly Conway (Bryce Dallas Howard), his future involvement was put into question. Confusion might have only grown by the time the mid-credits scene played and teased a prequel, although whether it was about the fictional Argylle from Conway’s books or the real Argylle that Cavill also plays is left open for interpretation. In either case, the scene still continued a terrible trend for the actor.
8 Argylle Sequels, Prequels, & Crossovers The Movie Sets Up
With Matthew Vaughn already establishing Argylle as another franchise alongside his celebrated Kingsman movies, spy crossovers are bound to happen.
Argylle’s Credits Scene Recasts Agent Argylle For A Prequel
The Argylle post-credits scene is important for the future of the franchise on several levels, including the confirmed Kingsman connection. However, it is also notable in that this is where the movie introduces a new actor to play a young Agent Argylle. The younger version of Cavill’s spy is introduced as Aubrey Argylle, played by Louis Partridge from the Enola Holmes franchise. The scene takes place 20 years in the past and appears to show the beginning of Argylle’s journey to becoming a master of espionage.
There are already plans in place for an Argylle prequel that will see Louis Partridge return as the young Aubrey Argylle. Its unclear if Partridge will completely overtake Cavill for future Argylle movies that explore the spy’s backstory, regardless of if the film focuses on Conway’s books or the actual Agent Argylle. At the very least, the credits scene was a way to recast Argylle for a prequel in the Argylle and Kingsman shared universe, leaving Cavill without a role to play in what is expected to be the next installment of the franchise he wanted to launch.
Argylle Is The Third Major Role To Recast Henry Cavill In The Last 2 Years
Now that Argylle recast Henry Cavill for the prequel, he has lost three major roles in the last two years. It was already confirmed that Cavill will no longer play Superman, with Black Adam ending his 9-year run as the Man of Steel. Although his last appearance set up many more movies for him, Warner Bros.’s decision to let James Gunn and Peter Safran reboot the DC Universe left the actor without a future. Gunn instead decided to cast David Corenswet for Superman: Legacy instead of finding a way to bring Henry Cavill back.
It was during the ever-changing nature of his Superman tenure that Cavill also exited his leading role in The Witcher. He played Geralt of Rivia for three seasons of Netflix’s hit fantasy series and confirmed his intention to leave shortly after Black Adam brought his Superman back. The Witcher recast Geralt with Liam Hemsworth stepping up to take Cavill’s place beginning in season 4. After losing Superman and The Witcher, the fact that Argylle also recast Henry Cavill’s character continues a bad trend for him. Thankfully, his Argylle future is not as bleak as with DC or The Witcher.
Argylle’s Ending Confirms Henry Cavill Will Still Be Part Of The Franchise
The good news for Henry Cavill is that Argylle‘s ending reveals how he can still be part of the franchise even after the recast. While Louis Partridge could play the younger version of the spy, the final scene before the credits introduced a new character, seemingly the real Agent Argylle. This comes as a shock to Elly Conway, as this person looks almost identical to her fictional Argylle, just with a different haircut. The ending implies that while Conway’s books were based on her spy past, there was also a real secret spy named Argylle operating in the world.
It is thanks to this final reveal that Argylle sets up Henry Cavill to play this new version of Agent Argylle in future installments. That could mean that Louis Partridge continues to play the fictional Argylle from Conway’s books while Cavill plays the real spy in the real world. The movie ending with this new character telling Elly that she probably has questions for him directly teases how Argylle 2 could bring the actor back in this new but similar role. That is if Argylle becomes a franchise starter as hoped.
Argylle
- Release Date
- February 2, 2024
- Director
- Matthew Vaughn
- Cast
- Henry Cavill , Ariana DeBose , Sofia Boutella , Catherine O’Hara , Bryce Dallas Howard , John Cena , Dua Lipa , Samuel L. Jackson , Sam Rockwell , Bryan Cranston , Rob Delaney
- Writers
- Jason Fuchs
- Runtime
- 135 Minutes
