Jared Leto‘s latest high-profile outing might be tanking at the box office, but it appears Tron: Ares‘ numbers aren’t a fair reflection of its fan reception, which boasts an 85% audience approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Perhaps, with time, it could turn out to be one of those underrated films that just couldn’t profit, which is nothing new in Leto‘s portfolio. Remember Lord of War? The Nicolas Cage crime thriller, co-starring Leto, has grown in appreciation over the years. Now, two decades later, fans are set to return to that gritty world of arms dealing, as reports confirm a sequel is slated to begin production soon. Leto won’t be reprising his role, but the cast list features names big enough to amp up the anticipation.
Talks of a sequel began in 2023, and development now seems to have picked up pace. A recent report reveals that the sequel, titled Lords of War, will start filming later this month in Belgium and Morocco. The report also unveils the addition of two cast members in Sylvia Hoeks, best recognized for her role as the villain’s (coincidentally played by Jared Leto) enforcer in Blade Runner 2049, and Greg Tarzan Davis, who recently held his own as Theo Degas in Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning, reprising the role from 2023’s Dead Reckoning. They join an already star-studded line-up that includes Bill Skarsgård (IT) and Laura Harrier (Spider-Man: Homecoming). Cage will return to his role as Yuri Orlov as the sole original cast member to reprise their part in the sequel.
While the original saw Cage’s Yuri running his illegal arms business alongside his brother Vitaly, played by Leto, the sequel ups the stakes by going the opposite of that family dynamic, pitting him against an even closer family member— his son. That son, Anton, will be played by Skarsgård. Per the official synopsis, the story follows a “notorious gunrunner Yuri Orlov, who goes head-to-head against his own son, Anton (Skarsgard). A chip off the old block, Anton hasn’t simply followed his father into the arms trade, but is going one step further by amassing a mercenary army to fight America’s conflicts in the Middle East. A bitter rivalry erupts, with the two even at odds over the same women.”
What Else Do We Know About ‘Lords of War’?
Lords of War brings back the same creative team for the original, with Andrew Niccol returning to write and also steer the ship as director. The project is produced under Vendôme Pictures, the same banner that delivered the original with Cage, and Skarsgard co-serves as an executive producer alongside Philippe Rousselet and Fabrice Gianfermi, best known for the critically acclaimed coming-of-age drama CODA.
In an interview earlier this year, Skarsgard teased the sequel and his character, saying, “It’s a great script and I think it’ll be a fun one. The character, he’s a charismatic f**king a**hole. And you saw the first one… It’s so cynical and so satirical and bleak and like everyone’s terrible, and it’s also kind of a dark comedy… I like that. I like when you laugh at terrible people… So I think that’ll be a fun one.”
The original film, Lord of War, is available to rent/buy on PVOD.
via Collider