The phrase cult movie will forever be tied to 1999’s The Boondock Saints thanks in large part to its strange path to success. After the script and writer/director Troy Duffy were plucked from obscurity and labeled the next Hollywood “it” thing, the film and Duffy were dumped and left to fend for themselves. The movie – about a couple hard-drinking Irish brothers who are one day called upon by God to exact bloody revenge and justice upon the criminals of Boston, Mass. – barely got made and was completely ignored when first released. Over the course of the following years, Duffy and the Saints rose to stardom as fans bought endless DVDs of the film and passed them around to friends and family. A sequel was made, an online store opened up and the cast and Duffy have toured the country meeting with fans ever since.
A sequel, titled The Boondock Saints: All Saints Day, hit theaters a full ten years after the first movie. The delay was due to a lawsuit and the fact that Saints’ original production company went under. One would expect that a third film would not have such a delay, but it’s already been five years since we ended with the Saints in prison. Fans have been bombarding Duffy with questions via Twitter and other outlets for updates on a new Saints entry. Duffy tweeted out pages of the script to entice fans earlier in the year and he recently took to The Boondock Saints Facebook page to answer fans’ questions, which unsurprisingly had to do with the third installment in the vigilante franchise.
Answering a fan’s question about the third movie , Duffy revealed that he wanted to reclaim the “boots on the ground” feel of his first cult film and that Boondock 3 will find the brothers having a newfound “notoriety” since entering prison. He also said the movie will delve a lot into the McManus brothers’ past and flashback to the “very first crime” for those God loving, hard drinking criminal killing duo.
In regards to the long delay the third film has suffered from Duffy chimed, “It’s my fault. It’s taken awhile…it’s cause I want to get it right.” The most juicy news Duffy salivated fans’ taste with is the title of the movie as well as a key plot point that sounds like it’ll take the franchise to a whole new level.
The title of the third film is currently The Boondock Saints 3: Legion and the movie will show legions of people taking the law into their own hands and following in the footsteps of the now famous brothers from Ireland.
Troy Duffy still has a few other projects in the works and it doesn’t sound like he’s rushing a third Boondock film which is an interesting self-imposed position for an artist with a hot franchise and millions of eager fans to be in. Most artists and studios rush sequels out to quell fans, but Duffy is rightly concerned with making worthy and good projects that equal the first film in fans’ eyes. It might be awhile before audiences see a third go round in the cult vigilante franchise, but it sounds like it’ll be worth it.
Originally published August 28, 2014. Updated April 15, 2018.
