Once upon a time, cult favorite sci-fi thriller Code 8 was set to be a streaming series that would air exclusively on Quibi before the platform imploded in less than a year, with fans left furious that the story looked destined to remain unfinished.
Writer and director Jeff Chan’s short film found major success online, so much that it ended up being adapted into a $15 million feature. Arrow‘s Steven Amell, his cousin and Upload‘s Robbie, along with Fast & Furious stalwart Sung Kung, provided a dose of star power to help draw in the crowd.
Code 8 really blew up when Netflix acquired the distribution rights, which saw it top the most-watched list in the United States and become a word-of-mouth sensation. In news that had supporters rejoicing, it was officially announced in June that the platform was producing a sequel.
Speaking to We Got This Covered ahead of Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City‘s release on Wednesday, Amell admitted that he’d happily keep making Code 8 follow ups for as long as possible.
“Well, I mean we always wanted to make it. We always wanted to build out the world and make more than one, and Netflix took a chance on us with the first one. And we always felt really good that it would deliver on Netflix, and that was the right fanbase for it. And, you know, it was. We killed it and went to number one, the number one movie in the U.S. and a ton of countries around the world.
And then they came in, in a big way, for the sequel. And it’s funny, that the internet says I teased the third one because all I said was, you know, ‘Hopefully it’s warmer’. Just because it’s freezing-ass cold shooting Part II right now. But I mean, we’ll keep making them as long as they’ll let us, because it’s kind of the best job in the world. We’re shooting movies with friends and family.”
There’s definitely franchise potential in the premise of registered superhumans rebelling after being forced into menial jobs, with Part II set to follow a battle against corrupt cops after the opener followed a crime thriller template. Should the second installment be a success, then there could be much more Code 8 to come in the future.