Argylle & Kingsman’s Shared Universe Idea Already Has 2 Major Problems That Are Unavoidable

Argylle, the latest spy-action film by Matthew Vaughn, shares a number of similarities with his iconic Kingsman movies, but there are two significant problems that make crossing over the two universes particularly difficult. Argylle stars Bryce Dallas Howard as a novelist whose stories are eerily similar to the actual activities of a criminal organization, which leads to her being swept into a real world of spies and villains. The action-comedy will also feature Henry Cavill as the eponymous Argylle, Sam Rockwell, Bryan Cranston, Dua Lipa, and Catherine O’Hara along with a number of other major stars.

Argylle will break a 12-year tradition for the Kingsman director Vaughn, but the similarities between the two franchises are obvious. That has naturally led to questions about whether the two franchises are connected. While there would certainly be an appetite for a grand, interconnected Matthew Vaughn espionage cinematic universe, there are a couple significant roadblocks to making it a reality.

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Sofia Boutella & Samuel L. Jackson Have New Roles In Argylle After Playing Kingsman Villains

The two will be part of Argylle’s star-studded cast, but in brand-new roles.

In addition to the aforementioned list of stars, Argylle will also feature both Samuel L. Jackson and Sofia Boutella. Jackson starred in Kingsman: The Secret Service as the eccentric billionaire villain Richmond Valentine, and Boutella starred as his murderous, razor-legged accomplice, Gazelle. Both Valentine and Gazelle were killed by Taron Egerton’s Eggsy in the climax of Kingsman: The Secret Service, definitively ending their stories in that universe.

In Argylle, Jackson and Boutella will, in theory, play completely different characters. While most details about their characters are still unknown, Jackson is listed as portraying “Alfred Solomon” and Boutella is listed as playing “Saba Al-Badr”. Boutella appears very briefly in the trailer, so it’s difficult to tell whether she will be a villain or not, but Samuel L. Jackson’s character is shown introducing someone (presumably Bryce Dallas Howard’s character) to “the real Argylle”, which would indicate he is not a villain.

Argylle & Kingsman Using The Same Actors Makes A Shared Universe More Difficult

It’s difficult, albeit not impossible, to explain actors playing different characters in the same cinematic universe.

Jackson and Boutella playing different characters in each movien makes the concept of a shared cinematic universe difficult, although not impossible, to execute. If characters from Argylle and Kingsman were to ever cross paths, it would be hard to look past the identical appearances of different people within the same universe without some sort of explanation. There are a few different ways to approach it, although some tactics can get convoluted rather quickly.

A cross-over movie could simply choose not to address the similarities, much as the Marvel Cinematic Universe has. For example, Gemma Chan played Minn-erva in Captain Marvel just a few years before playing Sersei in Eternals. The appearances of the two characters were different enough, and they never interacted, so it was fairly easy for audiences to overlook; Matthew Vaughn’s shared spy universe could do something similar and just not acknowledge the character change.

The other significant option is to fully address the similarities with the story. Samuel L. Jackson’s or Sofia Boutella’s Argylle characters could be written to be twins of their Kingsman characters, or some other type of relative. That is a much more difficult plan to execute, as it requires some suspension of disbelief from the audience, and could break the overall narrative style of both movies. Unfortunately, the presence of Samuel L. Jackson and Sofia Boutella in both the Argylle and Kingsman universes as different characters indicates a cross-over is likely not part of the current plan for either franchise.