There's a huge difference between cult hit and underground cult oddity. The second of which you love but most, or none of your friends have seen. Ghost Dog: Way of the Samurai definitely falls into that later catagory. And while you've long dreamed of a sequel, no one else really knows what you're talking about. Well, perhaps they'll soon understand, as Ghost Dog 2 is happening nearly 10 years after the first movie arrived.
Ghost Dog: The Way of The Samurai hit the indie circuit in 2000 and made a little bit of noise amongst genre fans. It starred Forest Whitaker, who didn't necessarily scream silent warrior at the time, and still doesn't, though Rogue One helps his street cred. The movie was directed by Jim Jarmusch who hasn't ever made a mainstream movie his entire life. Now, the pair are back, thanks to Wu Tang rapper RZA. He is writing the sequel to Ghost Dog, and the musician turned Kung Fu mastermind claims that Whitaker and Jarmusch have already signed on.
"Jim Jarmusch, my good buddy, and Forest Whitaker, have both signed on with me and another writer named Dallas Jackson, to executive produce another Ghost Dog. And we already have something written. So maybe Ghost Dog will make its way back to the silver screen, or small screen."
What's interesting here is that RZA doesn't rule out his script from being turned into an episodic series. Which could certainly find a home on a streaming service like Netflix or Hulu. We can probably rule out the new Disney streaming service, but an episodic series based on Ghost Dog could work. The story follows a contract killer, a master of his trade who can whirl a gun at warp speed and moves through this world like a phantom, stealthy and evanescent. In the spirit of the samurai, he has pledged his loyalty to a small time mobster named Louie (John Tormey) who saved his life many years before.
Neather Jim Jarmusch nor Forest Whitaker have spoken publicly about the project yet. RZA claims that the original duo are executive producing at this time so it's not immediately clear if Whitaker will step back into character or if Jarmusch will direct. Though RZA uses the word 'signed' it sounds like there are a lot of missing details in his update.
We won't spoil it here, because we know many of you have never seen the original, and will be curious to check it out now. But that ending! How will the contract killer's legacy continue in a true sequel or TV series? Could it be a prequel TV show? It's always weird when a true arthouse experiment gets a follow-up. And this is one no one was expecting. We'll have to wait until a more official announcement is made. We have the trailer for you to watch here, a movie which boasts one of the best soundtrack albums of that year. This news comes to us from Telerama via BirthMoviesDeath.