The Old Guard 2 Adds Uma Thurman And Henry Golding

While we've known for a little while now that a sequel to the 2020 Netflix action film "The Old Guard" was headed our way, and now there's a new reason to get excited. Two new reasons, actually. "The Old Guard" was a neat experiment in female-led action, centered around Charlize Theron's ageless assassin Andy, but the cast for the sequel just stepped things up a notch. In addition to Theron and the rest of the returning cast, Netflix announced that Uma Thurman ("Kill Bill") and Henry Golding ("Crazy Rich Asians") will join the upcoming sequel. The movies are based on the graphic novel series of the same name by Greg Rucka and Leandro Fernández, so there are some clues out there as to who Thurman and Goldman might be playing. All I know is that I can't wait to see Theron and Thurman tear up the screen, either against one another or together. 

"The Old Guard" told the story of Andromache of Scythia, who had been around since the 8th century BCE or so, along with her immortal companions. Together, they try to make the world a less terrible place, acting as secret superheroes who occasionally get their hands dirty. At the end of the first film, Andy lost her immortality and discovered that her old friend Quynh (Veronica Ngo), believed to be lost forever, was back and probably not too happy with Andy. It was a killer cliff-hanger that will finally get some resolution, and it will be interesting to see how Thurman and Golding fit in. Will they be aligned with Quynh and Booker (Matthias Schoenaerts), or friendly to Andy and her do-gooder team?

The rest of the cast for "The Old Guard 2" includes Ngo, Schoenaerts, Marwan Kenzari, Kiki Layne, Luca Marinelli, and Chiwetel Ejiofor. Director Victoria Mahoney ("Lovecraft Country") will take over from the first film's director, Gina Prince-Bythewood ("Love & Basketball"). The screenplay was written by Rucka, based on his graphic novels. 

According to Netflix, "The Old Guard" is one of their most popular films to date, with 186 million hours viewed in its first 28 days of release. I was among those viewers, though I can't say "The Old Guard" stuck with me much other than thinking Theron deserved another shot at heading up her own badass franchise, so hopefully the second time's the charm. All I know is that with Thurman onboard, I'll have to check it out.