We heard rumblings a few months back that Lionsgate were already hard at work on The Expendables 3, and with the second movie arriving in cinemas this week, producer Avi Lerner has taken a moment to discuss the plans for the future of The Expendables franchise – specifically, increasing the already impressive roster of action icons.
“We’ve approached Clint Eastwood to be one of the guys, we’ve got a character in mind for him. We’re talking to Harrison Ford. [And we want] Wesley Snipes when he comes back from prison,” Lerner tells Total Film. “I’ll give you one more name, we’ve got Nicolas Cage to play [one of the characters].”
I have to say, I’d be immensely surprised to see Eastwood or Ford lining up in The Expendables 3, but Nicolas Cage could prove to be an inspired casting and surely Wesley Snipes would be a given, providing that cameras don’t start rolling on the sequel before he’s up for release next July. One name noticeably absent however is Steven Seagal, who claimed earlier this year that he’d already received an offer for the third movie.
Meanwhile, regardless of new recruits, it seems cast for the The Expendables 3 could also be bolstered by the return of one of the original line-up, with Lerner adding that: “We’re going to bring Mickey Rourke back, if he won’t be too crazy. I like Mickey. And of course, all the existing stars [will return].” If so, we’re gonna need a bigger poster…
The Expendables 2 opens this Thursday (UK) and Friday (North America), with an epic cast that includes Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Chuck Norris, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Dolph Lundgren, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Randy Couture, Terry Crews, Liam Hemsworth, Scott Adkins and Yu Nan. Read our review here.
Originally published August 13, 2012. Updated December 6, 2019.
