Hardcore Henry 2 Updates: Why The Sequel Hasn’t Happened

Despite having teased the possibility of a sequel to his experimental sci-fi action thriller, Ilya Naishuller has yet to actually make Hardcore Henry 2. Released domestically in 2016, the original Hardcore Henry is shot entirely from the first-person perspective of its protagonist, Henry, a man who wakes up in a laboratory with no memory of who he is. The mute Henry is then informed by Estelle, a scientist claiming to be his wife, that he was in a terrible accident – one that robbed him of his voice and past – and she’s not only managed to revive him, but even enhanced him with cybernetic limbs that give him increased speed, strength, and endurance.

Partly inspired by Naishuller’s own first-person POV music videos for the Russian indie rock band Biting Elbows, the film then follows Henry as he battles a variety of enemies while attempting to rescue Estelle from Akan, a mysterious figure with psychokinetic abilities, after he suddenly appears and kidnaps her before she can restore Henry’s voice. Along the way, he is aided by a group of identical individuals who, as Henry eventually learns, are really clones of Jimmy, a scientist who was permanently handicapped by Akan after he failed in his attempts to create an army of cybernetically-enhanced soldiers like Henry.

After making a splash with its premiere at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival, Hardcore Henry was picked up STXfilms and scheduled for a wide release the following spring. Shortly before the film’s U.S. opening, Naishuller even teased the potential for a sequel in an interview with Tech Radar, revealing he had already written an outline for a Hardcore Henry 2 that would feature the original film’s costar Sharlto Copley (who plays Jimmy and his many clones). At the same time, he cautioned the sequel would only happen if the first movie was a commercial success, saying matter of factly “The question is whether people will turn up to the cinema to watch it.”

Upon its arrival in the U.S., Hardcore Henry drew mixed reviews, with critics applauding the movie for its visually-inventive – if, due to the nature of the first-person POV aesthetic, somewhat exhausting – action sequences and set pieces, yet taking it to task for failing to dig deeper into its self-reflexive, video game-inspired narrative and ideas. (Arguably, it’s a bit like a Paul Verhoeven sci-fi action film, but without a clear satirical throughline to offset its more juvenile elements.) Worldwide, the movie brought in $16. 8 million at the box office against a $2 million budget, which is more than enough to cover its initial production costs. Problem is, STXfilms spent an additional $10 million acquiring the global rights to Hardcore Henry (not counting its marketing expenditures), so they weren’t able to make back their investment with the film’s theatrical gross alone.

Between that and the lack of Hardcore Henry 2 updates since then, it’s fair to assume the sequel simply isn’t going to happen. Still, when asked by one of his Twitter followers for an update on the project back on July 9, 2020, Naishuller replied it’s “very unlikely, but never say never to a spiritual sequel.” Until then, the director will be putting the final touches on Nobody, an original action-thriller starring Bob Odenkirk and written by Derek Kolstad (of John Wick fame) that’s currently scheduled to open in February 2021 (having been delayed from its previous date in 2020 as a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic). So, depending on how well that movie performs, Naishuller may yet get to revisit some of the ideas he had planned for Henry’s next adventure in a separate project.