Another G.I. Joe Movie Sequel in Development

Paramount continues to have high hopes for the G.I. Joe franchise. Despite the lukewarm response to the first two live action G.I. Joe elements, 2009’s disappointing G.I. Joe and 2013’s surprisingly fun G.I. Joe: Retaliation, the studio is pressing ahead with not just one reboot, but an entire series. The shape of it isn’t really clear just yet, but it’s likely to end up being something of a G.I. Joe (and maybe Hasbro?) shared universe of some kind.

First up is Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins. That film, directed by Robert Schwentke, stars Henry Golding (Crazy Rich Asians) as everyone’s favorite silent ninja/special operative and Andrew Koji (Warrior) as his nemesis Storm Shadow. Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins is due to open on Oct. 23 of this year, but given the constant reshuffling of movie release dates at the moment, don’t be surprised if this ends up getting moved to November, or even 2021.

But even though Snake Eyes hasn’t sold a single ticket yet, the studio is confident enough in the direction being taken there that they’ve hired writers to put another G.I. Joe movie in development. According to Deadline, Joe Shrapnel and Anna Waterhouse (Seberg) are working on an untitled G.I. Joe sequel that “will further expand the IP, and build upon” whatever happens in Snake Eyes.

But “expand” and “build upon” already opens a couple of possibilities up. The first would be a solo movie similarly exploring Koji’s Storm Shadow. But the next, and perhaps more likely scenario, would be a movie focusing on Samara Weaving’s Shana M. O’Hara, code named Scarlett. Weaving’s Scarlett is as of this writing the only other member of the G.I. Joe team known to appear in Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe origins, so she seems like the most likely choice for a spinoff. Weaving led last year’s Ready or Not which was great fun, so it could be fun to let her loose in an action movie like this.

As far as we know right now, the only other toy-friendly character familiar to fans of the classic franchise in the movie would be Ursula Corbero as the mysterious Baroness. Perhaps Koji and Corbero could spin off a Cobra Origins movie as well (honestly, whatever Paramount is planning with this franchise, this might be the most unexpected option…the baddies have the best costumes anyway), but for the moment our money is on Weaving as Scarlett getting that spotlight. This is the second G.I. Joe spinoff in the works other than Snake Eyes, the first being Josh Applebaum and Andre Nemic’s similarly untitled spinoff, which apparently will feature Hawaiian shirt enthusiast Chuckles. We’ll update this with more information about the mysterious G.I. Joe spinoff/sequel as it becomes available.