'Nobody' Sequel In The Works, So Maybe Bob Odenkirk Can Become 'Somebody' This Time

Nobody, the John Wick-ish actioner that turned Bob Odenkirk into an ass-kicker, might be getting a sequel. The potential sequel has not been given a greenlight yet, but writer Derek Kolstad is said to be working on the script. And according to Nobody director Ilya Naishuller, the script is going to give Connie Nielsen, who plays Odenkirk's wife, more to do. And that's good to know because she pretty much does almost nothing in the first movie.Nobody was a big hit, grossing $61.5 million worldwide on a $16 million budget. And those are the types of numbers that get Hollywood talking about sequels. Like the John Wick franchise that influenced it, Nobody has potential for some kind of world-building that results in sequels, and it sounds like that might just happen.

Speaking with Joblo, Nobody director Ilya Naishuller confirmed that a sequel script is in the works.

"There's plenty of stories that can be told in this world, with the character Hutch. I know that [writer Derek Kolstad] has begun work on the sequel," the director said, adding that there's no official greenlight just yet. Still, if a sequel did happen, it wouldn't be very surprising at this point.

In Nobody, Bob Odenkirk plays Hutch Mansell, a seemingly boring suburban dad who has a big secret: he used to be a government assassin. A burglary triggers Hutch's old violent instincts, and he ends up running afoul of Russian gangsters (it's always Russian gangsters in these movies).

As a fan of the John Wick series and Bob Odenkirk, I was really looking forward to Nobody. But the film left me a little cold. While Odenkirk was great and made for a convincing action hero, the movie around him felt half-baked. As I wrote in my review:

"While the opening act of Hutch getting his ultra-violent mojo back hooks us, the rest of Nobody fizzles, with the film becoming a John Wick clone that's severely lacking in John Wick's style. The film is in such a hurry to get to the action that everything and everyone else takes a backseat. Characters are introduced but we learn absolutely nothing about them – like Hutch's nursing home-bound father, played by a growly Christopher Lloyd. Hutch also has a brother, played by RZA, but he spends almost the entire film off-camera, talking to Hutch via radio, before randomly showing up at the very end. Who is this guy? What's his deal? Nobody sure doesn't care. Perhaps they're saving all that pesky 'character development' stuff for a sequel."

All that said, I'm still interested in a potential sequel. And as a bonus, Naishuller suggests that the script will give Connie Nielsen more to do as Hutch's wife. And that's a good thing, because Nielsen is great and she's relegated to a nothing role in the first film. She plays a generic wife character who fades into the background. Giving her more to do in Nobody 2 would be a move in the right direction.