'xXx 3': Samuel L. Jackson To Return; Vin Diesel Shares Concept Art
As any Vin Diesel fan knows, the best source for updates on any Vin Diesel project is very often Vin Diesel himself. He's famously active on social media, where he shares updates, announcements, marketing materials, and other juicy tidbits with his fans.
Today, for example, he offered some new insight into xXx 3. According to Diesel, Samuel L. Jackson will reprise his role from the first two films in the upcoming sequel. Also on board, apparently, is MMA fighter Conor McGregor. And just in case all of that wasn't enough to satisfy your hunger for xXx 3 updates, Diesel also shared the first bit of concept art from the project. See it all after the jump.
Diesel announced the xXx 3 Samuel L Jackson casting on Facebook.
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Excited to work with Sam again... his portrayal of Gibbons was so good... timeless.Welcome to the Xander Zone!
Posted by Vin Diesel on Monday, December 14, 2015
In the original movie, Jackson's Agent Augustus Eugene Gibbons was the one who recruited Xander Cage, the extreme sports enthusiast played by Diesel, to work for the government. He did the same thing in xXx: State of the Union with prisoner and former Navy SEAL officer Darius Stone (Ice Cube). Essentially, you can think of Gibbons as the xXx Cinematic Universe version of Nick Fury. He's the connective tissue between the movies even more than Xander Cage is, since Diesel didn't show up for the second movie.
xXx 3 won't just be Cage and Gibbons reminiscing about the good ol' days, though. Diesel revealed on Instagram that Conor McGregor has also joined the cast, though it's not yet clear whom he's playing.
Timing and precision... The casting of the new XXX gets more exciting everyday. #Iliveforthisshit
A photo posted by Vin Diesel (@vindiesel) on
McGregor is the newly minted UFC featherweight champion, after emerging victorious from a fight with José Aldo this past Saturday. xXx 3 will be his first movie role.
Finally, Diesel also shared a tiny bit of concept art from xXx 3. The images are difficult to make out, but we get what appears to be a meteor headed for earth, Cage leaping out of a plane, Cage on a skateboard almost getting hit by a bus, and Cage on some kind of waterski / motorcycle hybrid. It all seems very bizarre, but that's xXx for you.
A video posted by Vin Diesel (@vindiesel) on D.J. Caruso is directing xXx 3, which does not yet have a release date.