While initially considered a huge risk, despite only costing $58 million to produce, Deadpool paid off in a huge way for 20th Century Fox, becoming not only the highest grossing X-Men movie, but also the highest-grossing R-rated movie of all time, with a worldwide gross of $783.1 million. We reported last month that its sequel, Deadpool 2, will start production this summer, although a specific release date hasn't been set at this time. Deadpool writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick are coming back to write the sequel, with the writers revealing in a new interview that this follow-up will help set the table for 20th Century Fox's X-Force movie.

The studio's X-Force movie was first set up in 2013, with Kick-Ass 2 filmmaker Jeff Wadlow coming aboard to write the script, based on the comics by Deadpool creator Rob Liefeld. Just before Deadpool hit theaters, Ryan Reynolds revealed in an interview that getting an X-Force movie off the ground has become a "priority" for him, with other reports claiming the studio wants to make X-Force an R-rated movie, following the success of Deadpool. Collider caught up with Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, who revealed that their Deadpool sequel will set up the impending X-Force movie. Here's what Rhett Reese had to say about the Deadpool 2 and X-Force connections below.

"There is a responsibility we have to the X-Force universe, and I do think we will not disappoint the fans going into Deadpool 2 and then setting up X-Force and beyond. Its purpose is not to set up X-Force. It will likely set up X-Force, but the drive of the movie won't be our eyes on Movie 3."

In the post-credits sequence of Deadpool, the Merc With the Mouth confirmed that the Marvel Comics character Cable will be introduced in Deadpool 2. Cable was a member of the X-Force team in the comics, which was made up of a group who handled black-ops missions such as assassinations. Another X-Force character, Domino, has since been confirmed to be in Deadpool 2, so their introduction into the X-Force group will most likely go through those two characters. While he wouldn't offer any specifics, Paul Wernick did have this to say about how Deadpool 2 will still center on a Deadpool story.

"We never want to let the tail wag the dog. We want to tell the best Deadpool story we can. But I do think we have a responsibility to think about a larger universe in the way that Marvel does and start to put pieces in place. Some of these movies feel overstuffed and almost choking with the need to set up eighteen different things that pay off down the road, and we want to avoid that responsibility to the extent that it hurts us. We want to hint at things, we want to plan some characters, and we want to make some nods, but we're very, very cognizant about making sure that Deadpool is above all a Deadpool movie."

These comments come just a few days after Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick teased there will be a lot of new characters in Deadpool 2, although they didn't name any specific characters. 20th Century Fox hasn't set a production schedule for X-Force quite yet, and it remains unclear if Jeff Wadlow is still attached to the project. With Deadpool 2 gearing up to start shooting this year, hopefully we'll hear more about how this sequel will set up X-Force, and when that movie may go into production.