Earlier this year, Kingsman: The Secret Service ended up being a bigger hit than anyone ever expected, grossing an impressive $410 million at the worldwide box office. Unsurprisingly, a sequel is now in the early stages of development, and one of the most surprising facts about it is that writer and director Matthew Vaughn wants to bring back the heroic character played by Colin Firth.
If you recall, Harry Hart was killed off in a definitive fashion in the movie, so how exactly he could factor into a sequel is a hard one to figure out. Asked recently about how they might go about bringing the actor back and why they’re even contemplating it, comic book creator Mark Millar had this to say:
“That’s the conversation everyone’s having right now, because part of what made that movie work is Colin. Colin’s fantastic, it was a two-hander, that film. You also want to have the integrity of the story, so if you are bringing him back, it has to make sense. That’s where it is at at the moment. Beats of the story have been done. [Screenplay co-writers] Matthew [Vaughn] and Jane [Goldman] are working on it at the moment.”
“Some things have to be worked out, some decisions have still to be made and everything, so it’s all fairly amorphous, but all going well. It’s funny because there’s a lot of conversations like that, like should he have an evil brother, Colin with a mustache? Or is he a ghost or whatever? The guys have a plan. I can’t spoil it just now because the final decision is still to be made. It’ll be good.”
That explanation makes a lot of sense, as it’s hard to imagine a Kingsman: The Secret Service follow-up being the same without that mentor/mentee dynamic and the chemistry between Firth and Taron Egerton. Though Hart was shot at point blank range by Samuel L. Jackson’s villain in the first instalment, if anyone can figure a way around that, it’s Matthew Vaughn.
Millar unfortunately didn’t offer any sort of update on a Kingsman: The Secret Service comic book sequel from him and Dave Gibbons, so it’s possible that this movie will be an entirely original story. Either way, we look forward to seeing how the writers plan to bring Firth back.