Plans to launch a The Gray Man franchise are reportedly already underway, with both a prequel starring Chris Evans and a sequel starring Ryan Gosling already in the works at Netflix. Revealed in the latest issue of Empire Magazine (via Twitter user @evanscontent), the prequel will center on Evans' character Lloyd Hansen and is being written by Deadpool writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick.
The projects are described as being “at the very early stage,” but the idea of spawning a franchise off of the upcoming spy thriller The Gray Man has been the intention of director Joe and Anthony Russo and Netflix since the very beginning. “We never want to jinx it. But we’re already thinking through where it goes from here,” Joe Russo said of their intentions recently. “We like to build out worlds, and we would rather gamble on the upside and put the energy and time in to build out that universe prior to the release, so that the ideas are more germane and organic. That’s how you build out a more complex mosaic narrative.”
While anyone has yet to see The Gray Man, a prequel led by Chris Evans as Lloyd Hansen already sounds intriguing. A former colleague of Ryan Gosling’s titular spy, the Gray Man, everything about Lloyd Hansen suggests that the man is violently unhinged â — making his espionage past worthy of exploration in a prequel.
Of course, Evans has proven his talents time and again with his work in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as well as roles in the likes of Sunshine, Knives Out, Snowpiercer, and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, with his character in The Gray Man sounding like a serious change of pace for the actor. “It does seem that I’ve aggressively gone 180 [degrees] from Steve Rogers. But it just kind of unfolded that way,” Evans said of the role recently. “What I like about him is that you should almost fear his smile more than his scowl. I think he understands that what he does is bad and harmful, but I think he considers himself necessary. He thinks he’s a disrupter.”
The Gray Man Will Explode onto Netflix in July
Based on the 2009 novel of the same name by Mark Greaney, The Gray Man centers on Court Gentry (Ryan Gosling), the CIA's most skilled mercenary whose true identity is known to none, who accidentally uncovers dark agency secrets. Soon, he finds himself pursued by Lloyd Hansen (Chris Evans), a psychopathic former colleague, who puts a bounty on his head, setting off a global manhunt by international assassins.
Directed by Avengers: Endgame’s Anthony and Joe Russo, The Gray Man stars Ryan Gosling, Chris Evans, Ana de Armas, Regé-Jean Page, Jessica Henwick, Dhanush, Billy Bob Thornton, and Alfre Woodard. The project has been given a budget of $200 million, making it the most expensive movie ever made by the streaming giant.
The Gray Man will land on Netflix on July 22, 2022. With eleven novels in The Gray Man series and with work on a sequel and prequel already begun, it sounds like we could be adventuring with the character for a long time to come.