With all the uncertainty around a sequel to The Last Witch Hunter, it’s understandable why so many have wondered whether there will be a sequel. The original was a fun but forgettable fantasy adventure that suffered from poor critic reviews, which brings into question the potential for Vin Diesel to return for more in The Last Witch Hunter 2. Given Vin Diesel’s long-running success with the Fast & Furious franchise, it’s hard to imagine a time when he was reluctant to make sequels. He passed on both 2 Fast 2 Furious and xXx 2 to work on other projects although it was his return in 2009’s Fast & Furious that boosted his career to a new level.
Diesel has starred in every Fast & Furious entry since with his most recent Fast X released in May 2023. Diesel also came back for Riddick and 2017’s xXx: The Return Of Xander Cage as part of his career trend as a major blockbuster franchise leading man. The Last Witch Hunter had intended to be another potential movie series for the action star in which he plays an immortal hunter tracking down witches in modern-day New York but there has yet to be an official confirmation of any sequel. The Last Witch Hunter suffered a lukewarm box-office release which already put the sequel in doubt. Vin Diesel has shown to be persistent about projects he loves, however, so The Last Witch Hunter 2 could still happen.
The Last Witch Hunter 2 Latest News
There has been very little concrete news about The Last Witch Hunter 2 despite Vin Diesel’s verbal confirmation of it. It is still listed as being in the development stage on IMDb, which historically is very up-to-date about project statuses. The last public comment that Diesel made about The Last Witch Hunter 2 was to Collider more than 3 years ago, stating with conviction that The Last Witch Hunter 2 was in the works. “Lionsgate is coming and saying, ‘We’re putting a writer on for the next one.’ That’s kinda cool! … And this is just recent, by the way. But it’s funny that you mentioned Last Witch Hunter because I’m in a meeting with Lionsgate and they’re actively creating the sequel to The Last Witch Hunter.”
Given the unprecedented setbacks with the pandemic and the recently-ended Writers Guild Strike, The Last Witch Hunter 2 might have actually already been released by now in a world where neither of those things happened. According to the information in Diesel’s statement, The Last Witch Hunter sequel likely would have been released sometime in 2022 or later if Lionsgate had greenlit the project back in March 2020 and Hollywood hadn’t shut down immediately after. As far as cutting-edge news on the matter, there is nothing that adds confirmation to Diesel’s original claims over three years ago.
What Vin Diesel Has Said About The Last Witch Hunter 2
Prior to the release of the original, Vin Diesel informed fans the studio was so excited by the movie they wanted to start prepping The Last Witch Hunter 2 right away. The actor labeled the would-be series the “Axe and Cross” franchise and the studio wanted him to block out time in his schedule for a follow-up. Diesel’s Kaulder character is actually based on the actor’s own Dungeons & Dragons character but has no relation to the recently successful Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves. Rose Leslie, Elijah Wood, and Michael Caine co-starred in the fantasy blockbuster but have not commented on any plans for The Last Witch Hunter 2.
Initial talks of a Last Witch Hunter franchise immediately went cold following The Last Witch Hunter’s release. The film has an abysmal 18% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes and a Metacritic score of 34, which are both poor indications of its franchise potential. With the movie grossing less than $150 million worldwide on a reported $90 million budget, it’s possible that Hollywood is much more inclined to keep paying Diesel to appear in more Fast & Furious movies than to try and revitalize the Witch Hunter series. Factoring in marketing costs, it’s unlikely the original movie turned much of a profit during its 2015 theatrical run. The fantasy project did particularly poorly in the U.S. too, taking in less than $30 million.
What The Last Witch Hunter 2’s Story Could Be About
The Last Witch Hunter 2 could continue to follow the saga of Kaulder while also expanding the fictional universe with the implementation of additional characters and backstory. The biggest question that would need to be answered from the original movie is whether Kaulder would finally become successful in killing the White Queen. If this were to happen, he would finally get revenge for the curse that the Witch Queen placed on Kaulder in which he was forced to experience the infinite loss of his wife and daughter.
In turn, Kaulder would also be giving up his immortality, since the first Last Witch Hunter movie identified that Kaulder would die if the Queen’s heart stopped beating. TheLast Witch Hunter 2 would have to sort out whether or not Kaulder’s life could be separated from the fate of the Witch’s Queen’s heart, which was last heard as a part of Kaulder’s weapon stash in his apartment at the end of the original movie.
Vin Diesel Has Resurrected Dead Franchises Before
The weak financial return of the original movie would seem to rule out The Last Witch Hunter 2 but Diesel isn’t one to let go of a series he’s fond of. The character of Riddick in Pitch Black helped make him a star even after the disappointing box office performance of 2004’s The Chronicles Of Riddick in which the franchise appeared to be dead. Diesel refused to give up on it and helped finance a lower-budget follow-up simply labeled Riddick, which proved to be a hit back in 2013. In fact, Diesel was so sure of Riddick’s potential that he appeared in a cameo in The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift for no payment other than to receive the creative rights to the Riddick franchise.
Dielel pulled off a similar feat with xXx: The Return Of Xander Cage following the box-office flop of 2005’s xXx: State of The Union. While xXx 4 and Riddick 4 are currently stuck in development stages, they are still reportedly being planned. The Last Witch Hunter may not have set the box office on fire but Diesel could find a way to keep the “Axe and Cross” series going. He could also explore options of the next franchise installment being a lower-budget sequel, video game, or some other form of entertainment through another medium. The Last Witch Hunter 2 doesn’t appear to be officially in the works but given Diesel’s track record with major movie franchises, a follow-up is always on the table.