Celebrated Spider-Man filmmaker, Sam Raimi has revealed that talks for a sequel to his 1990 superhero movie, Darkman, have begun at Universal Pictures. While discussing his return to the superhero genre this weekend with the theatrical release of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, the director told The Wrap that “Universal is talking about a Darkman sequel.
“There’s a producer attached. I haven’t heard the story yet or gone into it, I’ve been so busy with this movie. But I think it’s cool,” Raimi added.
The filmmaker co-wrote and directed Darkman, which starred Liam Neeson and Frances McDormand. The vigilante crime-fighting drama featured Neeson as Dr. Peyton Westlake, who took on the alter ego of the eponymous Darkman. He’s able to alter his appearance as he seeks vengeance against the mob that disfigured him.
Darkman was Raimi’s first big studio movie after he garnered success with his classic indie horror follow-up, Evil Dead II. But Darkman didn’t become the blockbuster film that Universal was hoping for, despite it performing moderately well at the box office.
The superhero movie eventually garnered a loyal cult following and inspired a number of supporting materials, including video games, action figures and comic books. There was also a pilot produced for a weekly television series, but it was never picked up.
The drama also spawned two direct-to-video sequels, 1995’s Darkman II: The Return of Durant and 1996’s Darkman III: Die Darkman Die, both of which featured Arnold Vosloo taking over the titular role from Neeson. Raimi returned to the series to serve as a producer on both follow-ups.
Raimi added during his interview with The Wrap that there were initially plans to turn Darkman into a theatrical franchise in the 1990s. But those plans were thwarted after the movie didn’t achieving the box office results the studio had originally hoped for.
Raimi also noted that if Neeson is interested in reprising his role of the titular character from the original film in the upcoming sequel, he would love to have him back. “I don’t know if he’d do it,” the co-scribe-helmer admitted. “But he’d be incredible.”
Despite the filmmaker’s announcement, Universal has not yet officially confirmed on the follow-up, or announced any plans to continue the Darkman franchise.