The success of the stylish spy-thriller Kingsman: The Secret Service when it came out in 2015 cast an unfortunate shadow over The Man from U.N.C.L.E., filmmaker Guy Ritchie's own take on the stylish spy-thriller genre based on the 1964 television series of the same name. Starring Armie Hammer and Henry Cavill as suave secret agents, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. was not a big hit commercially but garnered a cult following in the following years. In an interview with CinemaBlend, Hammer expressed his love for the movie, and his eagerness to make a sequel:

"Trust me, if someone was like, 'Hey, do you want to do a sequel?' I would be like, 'Hell yeah, let's go!' ... I hear it. I get people being like, 'Are you going to do a sequel?' The answer is, 'I hope so! I'd love to.' At one point, Lionel Wigram, who was the producer and also who wrote the original script, he and I talked about ideas and he told me an idea that he had for it, and I was like, 'That sounds great! Whatever your idea [is], let's just do it!' I don't know, man. Keep pushing. Hopefully one day we can do it. I'd love to do it."

The Man from U.N.C.L.E. told the story of CIA agent Napoleon Solo, played by Henry Cavill, and KGB operative Illya Kuryakin, played by Armie Hammer. At the height of the Cold War, the two must learn to put their differences aside in order to track down an arms dealer looking to supply Nazis with nuclear weaponry.

The formulaic story of The Man from U.N.C.L.E. was elevated by Guy Ritchie's trademark stylish filmmaking and the two charismatic leads in Cavill and Hammer. The duo was also joined by Alicia Vikander in a small but important role. Together, the three ridiculously pretty people embark on a journey to ridiculously pretty locations, wearing ridiculously pretty clothes while engaging in blockbuster spycraft and an unexpected twist or two.

The movie got enough things right to amass a global fan following in the years since its release. Unfortunately, despite the end of the film clearly being a setup for the start of a franchise, no fresh sequel has been forthcoming in the past five years. In the meantime, Ritchie has taken a stab at kickstarting a new franchise about King Arthur, Cavill has gone from being Superman to a Witcher, while Hammer and Vikander have starred in a number of critically acclaimed hits.

Because the first movie was released half a decade ago and underperformed at the box-office, it is unlikely we will be getting a sequel anytime soon. However, as far as Guy Ritchie is concerned, he once explained in 2017 that he is content to look back on making The Man from U.N.C.L.E. as effort well-spent:

"I felt pretty confident about that film. I sit there, I watch it, I can pick it up at any point, and it just jollies on. I'll think, 'Oh, I really enjoyed that.' 'U.N.C.L.E.' is one of those movies."

This news originated at Cinemablend.