The sequel to 2008’s Hancock has yet to happen, but if it does, director Peter Berg knows what the movie will be about. Fans of the original remember the exploits of Hancock (Will Smith), the superhero with drinking, attitude, and image problems. In the movie, Hancock rebrands himself with some help from a well-meaning publicist, Ray (Jason Bateman). Ray is determined to make the world a better place and sees giving Hancock a makeover as a good place to start. Hancock’s relationship with Ray and his son Aaron and wife Mary (Charlize Theron) leads to surprising revelations about Hancock’s past.
Hancock was a box office hit, raking in $629.4 million worldwide — but the movie didn’t fare as well critically. Many thought Hancock’s premise was fresh, but the execution was poor. Instead of exploring more deeply how the pressures of fame could wear down an immortal god, the story shifts into a lopsided convoluted love story, throwing in an unimpressive last-minute nemesis. The movie’s ending set the stage for the major characters to return, and a sequel seemed inevitable. While the Hancock sequel appeared to be confirmed, with Berg announcing the original cast would return for another film. Reportedly, in late 2009, the project was put on hold so Smith could spend time with his family.
The only thing standing in the way of a second Hancock movie appeared to be scheduling conflicts because Berg had the plot outlined in 2009. He told MTV News that the sequel would explore the backstories of Smith’s and Theron’s immortal gods and how they both wound up living in Los Angeles:
“We’re looking at exploring their relationship prior to when we first met them and seeing a bit of what happened as a prequel. I think we danced around the concept of an origins and we settled on something that is very substantive. That will part of the sequel.”
All of the key players have been busy for the past eight years. Smith has appeared in Bad Boys for Life (a fourth movie is in the works) and in the live-action version of Aladdin. Berg is going to direct Netflix’s Painkiller, an eight-episode limited series about the origin of the opioid epidemic. Theron starred in another story about immortal gods, The Old Guard, which premiered on Netflix this month, and the movie’s ending begs for another installment; however,, the Theron is still on board with doing a Hancock sequel. Theron told Comicbook in June 2020:
“You know, for a while we [talked about a sequel], I think closer to when the movie came out, but not in recent years, no. We’ll be super heroes with our walkers, you know. And I’ll still go! I’ll still make that movie, I would do it in a heartbeat.”
Berg promised the tone would combine broad comedy with emotional drama. Although Charlize’s and Smith’s characters were supposed to be the last two of their kind, Berg teased the possibility of another demigod possibly entering the mix; in 2012, Bergo told SyFy Wire he still believed the concept had “a lot of potential” and said there had been a small push forward on the project — a phone call between producer Akiva Goldsman and Will Smith. Berg didn’t divulge any new plot points, however. It took the powers that be 12 years to get the first Hancock to come to fruition, and it looks as if a possible sequel will shatter that record.