Believe it or not, buried in all the talk of “Spider-Man: No Way Home” and “The Matrix Resurrections,” there is a new ‘Kingsman’ film in theaters. The prequel, “The King’s Man,” is once again directed by Matthew Vaughn, but this time transports us back a century to see the early days of the Kingsman spy organization. And if Vaughn has his way, “The King’s Man” will be just one of quite a few prequels showing the Kingsman organization through the 20th century.
Speaking to The Wrap, Matthew Vaughn talked about the future of the ‘Kingsman’ franchise, which is already supposed to have at least one more sequel and quite possibly, a load more prequels. For those who haven’t seen the films, the ‘Kingsman’ franchise follows the covert superspy organization known as the Kingsman, a group of well-dressed, deadly spies who have been responsible for saving the world on quite a few occasions. Think James Bond but with more jokes and way gorier violence.
READ MORE: ‘The King’s Man’ Review: Anything-Goes Historical Revisionism Jamboree Is Super Silly
It’s no surprise Matthew Vaughn is ready to begin work on “The Kingsman 3,” which is the film that is supposed to end the story of Eggsy (Taron Egerton), the protagonist of the first two films. And while production is likely to begin next fall, it’s still unclear if Vaughn will return to handle the directing. You see, he’s currently just finishing production on his non-‘Kingsman’ spy film, “Argylle,” and isn’t ready to begin thinking about yet another franchise film.
“I haven’t decided,” Vaughn said about directing ‘Kingsman 3.’ “Are you asking me whether I want to direct right now when I’m just finishing ‘Argyle’ off, literally today, as well … Not the time to ask someone whether they want to direct or not. At the moment, I don’t know. I mean, yeah. Give me a couple of months. Maybe.”
As for “The King’s Man” and what it might mean for the franchise, Vaughn is imagining a world (much like what he started with “X-Men: First Class”), where the superspy film series does a prequel for each decade of the 20th century, showing how the Kingsman organization has shaped the world. Really, he just wants to tell another prequel story in the 1960s.
“If people like this one, I think, that’d be fascinating to go through every decade – the history of espionage, how it changed,” the filmmaker said. “I’ll be sort of fast-forwarding as quickly as I can to get into the ‘60s to start doing the Cold War.”
He added, “Imagine a scene where you’re in the Kingsman tailor shop and you’ve got the Beatles on Savile Row playing. It’d be amazing to go through British history through the eyes of the Kingsman.”
As mentioned, “The King’s Man” is in theaters now.