Scarlett Johansson’s $469M Action Movie Sequel Gets Honest Update From Director 10 Years Later

Summary

• Luc Besson expresses surprise and confusion over reports of a potential
  Lucy 2
  .
• The ending of the first movie presents a unique challenge in creating a sequel storyline.
• A spinoff TV show centered on Morgan Freeman’s character is already in development, though no updates have been given in two years.

As the filmmaker mounts a return to the director’s chair, Luc Besson has a disappointing update on Lucy 2. The 2014 movie starred Scarlett Johansson as the titular American student in Taiwan who, after inexplicably becoming a drug mule, begins developing superhuman abilities from the drugs she’s meant to be transporting. Scoring mixed-to-positive reviews and amassing an impressive $469 million box office haul against its $40 million production budget, talks have swirled in the years since about a potential follow-up.

During a recent interview with The Playlist for his upcoming drama thriller Dogman, Besson was asked about whether Lucy 2 will come to fruition. The writer/director revealed that the reports about the sequel over the years have been “news to him” and indicated that he has not been approached to direct or develop any follow-up to his hit movie. Check out what Besson shared below:

Yeah, I heard that [was happening]. I even read that. Yeah, I was glad to hear [it.] I said, “Oh? Give me the script.” You know, that’s the problem sometimes with the internet is I don’t know where [the information] comes from. Sometimes, I see that my name is on a movie that I haven’t been aware of.

How The Lucy Franchise Could Return (Without A Sequel)

In the years since the first movie’s release, Besson has frequently shot down reports that he would be developing Lucy 2. In previous comments, the filmmaker has indicated the biggest hurdle he’s faced in coming up with a plan for a sequel is figuring out how to pick up from Lucy‘s ending, in which Johansson’s character both transformed into a supercomputer and left a mystical flash drive for Morgan Freeman’s Professor Norman, while also disappearing into an unknown place in time.

Despite this seemingly conclusive ending, there are still routes a Lucy follow-up could take. The primary option is one that’s already said to be in the works, as it was announced in late 2022 that a spinoff TV show was in development at EuropaCorp and Village Roadshow centered on Freeman’s character. Though plot details remain under wraps for the time being, it seems likely the show will take place after the events of the movie, following Professor Norman as he further investigates what transpired prior. This could in turn lead him to finding more people with similar abilities to Lucy.

While it’s been some time since the Freeman-led show was announced, the other potential option for Lucy 2 would be to explore what happened to Johansson’s character after the ending of the first movie. Some audiences have found themselves still baffled by the original movie’s ambiguous ending, and though a sequel would risk some viewers’ appreciation of its lack of direct explanations, it is still possible for Besson or another filmmaker to come in and find a way to bridge the gap between the two sides without undermining the original, much like Denis Villeneuve with Blade Runner 2049.

Source: The Playlist