James McAvoy’s 2008 Hit Action Movie Gets Sequel Update From Writer After 16 Years In Development Hell

Wanted co-writer Michael Brandt provides an update on the long-awaited sequel, Wanted 2, which has spent 16 years in developmental hell. The original movie is based on the comic book series of the same name by Mark Millar and J. G. Jones. It follows Wesley Gibson (James McAvoy), a young man who finds his mundane life turned upside down when he discovers he has superhuman abilities and a connection to The Fraternity, a deadly society of assassins. The movie was a major critical and commercial success, but its sequel oddly never became a reality.

In an interview with MovieWeb, Brandt gave an update on Wanted 2. He explained that he and his co-writers wrote a sequel, but ran into a roadblock when Wanted director Timur Bekmambetov had a different idea. Meanwhile, the studio’s fast turnover rate meant it wasn’t willing to wait for the conflict to be solved, resulting in the sequel getting “left behind.” Brandt revealed he still gets calls and positive feedback on the script, but all revival attempts eventually stall. Check out his statement below:

We had an idea for a sequel. We pitched it, wrote it. And it seems like there was some real interest in the studio to make it. And then Timur, who directed the first one, absolutely was interested as well. But he had a kind of a different idea for what he wanted to do… And it’s just one of those moments where somebody says the wrong thing in terms of our movie going forward, and the script that we’d written going forward. And he suggested some changes. And it kind of took the wind out of the sails at the studio. And then, the studio’s turnover is ‘fast and furious,’ to borrow a phrase. And I think the sequel of Wanted just kind of got left behind as other things started going forward.

So there’s a script, I’d love to see it get made, and I really liked it. I thought it was a proper sequel to the first one. But so far, the momentum has been lost. I do get a call every now and then from some producer who says, ‘Can we reinvigorate this thing? And I say, ‘Yeah, here’s the script.’ And they say, ‘Wow, we love the script.’ And I say, ‘Cool, call the studio.’ And then it seems to die there for some reason.

The Long Complicated History Of Wanted 2

Brandt gives an abridged version of what happened to Wanted 2. Over the years, though, there have been countless reports and rumors painting a complicated picture of the sequel’s progress. The film’s entire history explains how multiple conflicting ideas for the sequel arose. This is because Brandt wasn’t initially selected to write the screenplay. Initially, the franchise creator, Millar, announced that he was working with producers on a story for a second movie and even teased talks of a third. One of the original writers, Chris Morgan, was set to write the sequel.

Things started to fall apart on Wanted 2 when Morgan left the project due to his heavy workload. At this point, Evan Spiliotopoulos was announced as Morgan’s replacement. It was reported that the initial sequel planned to resurrect Angelina Jolie’s Wanted character, Fox. However, Jolie also pulled out of the sequel, resulting in the script needing a rewrite and the movie searching for a new lead. It was at this point that production came to a halt. Finally, in 2011, Brandt and Derek Haas were welcomed back to write the sequel.

Brandt and Haas’ Wanted sequel would’ve taken place several years after the original and followed a new female protagonist. However, Bekmambetov announced shortly after Brandt’s hiring that he had his own idea for a sequel with a shocking twist. This is where everything came to a standstill due to the disagreement over which direction to take the movie. There’s a slight chance Wanted 2 will still happen, but one can see how messy it is to choose between an original writer or director for a project that has warped multiple times.