The Big Picture
- The script for Red Notice 2 is nearing completion and will be ready "relatively soon," according to Netflix's Head of Film, Scott Stuber.
- The success of the first film means that the pressure is on to deliver a sequel that lives up to expectations, but they are not rushing the script.
- While the plans for Red Notice 3 seem to be uncertain, Stuber has clear plans for the focus of the sequel.
Earlier this year, Gal Gadot spoke to Collider and revealed that she was thoroughly excited about the script for Red Notice 2, and this week, we got an additional update on the sequel directly from Netflix’s Head of Film, Scott Stuber. During the grand reopening of the American Cinematheque at The Egyptian Theatre Hollywood, he revealed to our Editor-in-Chief Steve Weintraub that the final version of the script will be ready “relatively soon.”
During the interview, Stuber talked about what they are looking at in terms of what worked with Red Notice and what can be done again or improved. The bar is high: In 2020, the blockbuster action flick became the most-watched original Netflix movie of all time, so the streamer needs to tread carefully if it wants to repeat the success. The film's success even led to Netflix greenlighting a pair of sequels—not just one. Stuber also commented that the general feel around Hollywood is that, after screenwriters and studios reached a deal, a lot of productions started picking up the pace to make up for lost time, but Netflix isn't trying to do that with the scripts for Red Notice 2 or Red Notice 3. However, this doesn't mean that they don't want it to happen “as quick as possible.”
When asked directly about the status of Red Notice 2 and Red Notice 3, Stuber opted to only answer about Red Notice 2's script, saying, "We've got one that we're working on, so we're gonna get that script relatively soon." This seems to cast doubt about the future of Red Notice 3, which would make sense considering even The Gray Man 2 seems up in the air at the moment. Over a year ago, when Weintraub spoke with Red Notice producers Beau Flynn and HiramGarcia, they revealed that they had scripts for both Red Notice 2 and Red Notice 3, but perhaps they went back to the drawing board with a renewed focus on only the follow-up film. For the sequel, Stuber went on to explain their focus for it, saying:
“The key to that is to try to make it– You know, Rawson [Marshall Thurber] did a really good job of kind of misdirecting in that movie, right? So now you've established personality in a heist, so now it's like, 'How do we get that plot right? How do we get that storytelling right?' So, you know, I wanna make sure that we're hitting the highest bar possible when we’re making these things. We have three of the biggest global stars in the world, so yes, you know, we want it back, but we want to get it right.”
'Red Notice 2' Is Coming As Soon As Possible
An extra problem that the Red Notice team will have to deal with in the future is syncing up the schedule of three of the busiest movie stars in the world. Gadot, Dwayne Johnson (Fast X), and Ryan Reynolds (Deadpool 3) all have big projects in the works, but Stuber revealed that possibly Johnson will be the toughest one to work around because the Moana live-action adaptation was pushed back to 2025. However, he revealed he’d like to “aim for the end of next year to start, like the fall of ’24,” and he’s also confident that once everything is set “everyone clears a path for it.” Now that the strike has come to an end, they may finally be able to start moving on lining up those schedules.
Should Stuber’s aspirations come true, we could start getting some major reveals of the Red Notice franchise by mid-2024. Stick with Collider to read more Red Notice sequel updates as soon as they are announced.
Red Notice
ActionComedyThriller Release Date November 12, 2021 Director Rawson Marshall Thurber Cast Dwayne Johnson , Ryan Reynolds , Gal Gadot , Ritu Arya , Chris Diamantopoulos , Ivan Mbakop Runtime 118 minutes Writers Rawson Marshall ThurberncG1vNJzZmibn6G5qrDEq2Wcp51kv6awjKemraGTmnpzedKcqaKopGK0oriMoJidp6Riv7qtzWapnrGepLmlv44%3D