Despite being one of their biggest hits ever, Netflix may not being going ahead with a sequel to The Gray Man.
The Russo Bros’ The Gray Man was supposed to be a game-changer for Netflix. Fresh off directing two of the biggest films ever made (Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame), the Russo’s were confident they could bring the same kind of “can’t miss” event to a streamer. Indeed, The Gray Man sported a budget on par with the biggest Marvel movies and an all-star cast that included Ryan Gosling, Chris Evans and Ana de Armas. The movie was indeed a hit for Netflix, with it currently sitting at number 5 on their all-time most popular movies list, but reaction to the film was more mixed than anticipated, and right now The Gray Man 2 seems like a questionable idea.
While Netflix quickly announced that their adaptation of Mark Greaney’s novels would be getting both a sequel and spin-off, the appetite for a franchise seems to have cooled at Netflix in the eighteen months since the film’s release. Scott Stuber, the head of Netflix film, sat down with Collider recently and admitted that making more Gray Man movies was simply a “maybe” for the streamer.
“You know, the guys (Joe and Anthony Russo) would admit they had the biggest theatrical hit of all time, and moving into streaming, they were aspirationally trying to do that for their own, like, “How do we make the biggest thing of all time?” And we probably put too much action in that movie. There were too many action set pieces, and I think we should have slowed down a little bit on the character.”
To note, Ryan Gosling’s career has undoubtedly changed since The Gray Man came out in 2023. While Gosling was a star at the time, he’d never really appeared in a franchise before, but this summer’s Barbie changed everything. Gosling’s next movie, an adaptation of the 80s series The Fall Guy, is another potential franchise starter, so it’s questionable whether or not Gosling would be available or willing, to return to the fold for The Gray Man 2.
Whatever the case, Netflix is still in business with the Russo Bros, with the Chris Pratt/ Millie Bobby Brown movie, The Electric State, due out in 2025.
Do you want to see a Gray Man 2? Let us know in the comments.