Donnie Yen (Ip Man 3) has joined the cast of the action threequel xXx: The Return of Xander Cage, with Twitch reporting that he has signed on as a replacement for Jet Li (The Expendables), with Li said to have exited the project for undisclosed reasons. It marks another high-profile Hollywood role for the Hong Kong superstar, who is set to appear this December in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.
The third explosive chapter of the blockbuster franchise that redefined the spy thriller finds extreme athlete turned government operative Xander Cage (Vin Diesel) coming out of self-imposed exile and on a collision course with deadly alpha warrior Xiang and his team in a race to recover a sinister and seemingly unstoppable weapon known as Pandora’s Box. Recruiting an all-new group of thrill-seeking cohorts, Xander finds himself enmeshed in a deadly conspiracy that points to collusion at the highest levels of world governments. Packed with the series’ signature deadpan wit and bad-ass attitude, xXx: The Return of Xander Cage will raise the bar on extreme action with some of the most mind-blowing stunts to ever be caught on film.
xXx: The Return of Xander Cage is being directed by D.J. Caruso (Disturbia) sees Diesel joined in the cast by fellow xXx veteran Samuel L. Jackson and new additions Donnie Yen (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story), Toni Collette (The Sixth Sense), Tony Jaa (Ong-Bak), Deepika Padukone (Cocktail), Nina Dobrev (The Vampire Diaries), Ruby Rose (Orange Is the New Black), Andrey Ivchenko (Freezer) and UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor. It’s also been reported that Ice Cube will reprise the role of Darius Stone from the 2005 sequel xXx: State of the Union.
