Any hopes the showrunners of Disney Plus sequel series Edge of History had for a Nicolas Cage cameo went up in smoke when the show was canned after a single season, but as far as we know direct continuation National Treasure 3 remains in active development.
With Godzilla vs. Kong director Adam Wingard’s new take on Face/Off also circulating, the Academy Award-winning maverick has no shortage of options when it comes to legacy sequels. With that in mind, the news that he’s returning as arms dealer Yuri Orlov in Andrew Niccol’s Lords of War has still come right out of the blue.
The opening chapter landed back in September of 2005, and while it fared decently with critics, it only made $72 million at the box office. And yet, Cage and Niccol are officially back in business to pick up the story close to 20 years later, with Bill Skarsgård cast in the role of Anton Orlov.
This time around, the son is trying to outdo the father on all fronts, gathering an army of mercenaries to fight conflicts on America’s behalf, driving a wedge right between the duo. Niccol hasn’t directed a feature since 2018’s entirely forgettable sci-fi thriller Anon, but Lords of War also marks the first sequel of the Oscar-nominated filmmaker’s career.
It wasn’t anything anybody saw coming, but Cage’s career has never exactly been defined by taking the obvious route, so color us quietly optimistic about Lords of War ultimately proving its questionable need to exist.