xXx: The Return of Xander Cage has been in development for ages, but recently got a jump-start thanks to Diesel’s billion dollar success with the new Fast and Furious films. The casting for the film has been slowly rolling-in, and I felt to let it gather a good chunk before doing a story on it. Vin Diesel and Samuel L. Jackson will be reprising their roles, with a whole new group of additions to the cast. Some are impressive and others are newcomers to the genre, and acting.
As reported by The Hollywood Reporter and Twitch Film, the new cast members include Jet Li (Expendables, Kiss The Dragon), Tony Jaa (Furious 7), Ruby Rose (John Wick 2, Orange Is The New Black, Resident Evil 6), Nina Dobrev (Let’s Be Cops, Perks of A Wallflower), and Danish born Bollywood actress Deepika Padukone.
Dobrev will play a witty and sarcastic techie, while Padukone will play a huntress who happens to be Cage’s former lover. Rose will play a sniper.
Irish UFC fighter Conor McGregor is expected to take a role as well, it’ll be his first film role following in the footsteps of Gina Carano and Ronda Rousey.
While I can’t say I enjoyed the first two xXx movies, Vin Diesel’s new popularity should help a bit more effort put into the third film. D.J. Caruso is directing the project and is best known for films like I Am Number Four and Eagle Eye. It could be a cool action flick, or a giant mess with him on board. The screenwriters don’t have the greatest track record either, penning disasters such as Terminator 3: Rise of The Machines, Terminator Salvation, Surrogates, and Catwoman. I’m not expecting much beyond some good ol’ dumb action, but it couldn’t be any worse than the Point Break reboot could it?
The release date hasn’t been made official but it’s expected to drop sometime in 2017.