How The King’s Man Sets Up Another Sequel

The King’s Man ends with the founding of the Kingsman intelligence agency and sets up where the story could go with a potential sequel. The King’s Man‘s box office was railroaded somewhat by the unstoppable success of Spider-Man: No Way Home, and the spy movie also received a mixed critical reception. While the long-awaited Kingsman 3 starring Taron Egerton and Colin Firth is gearing up, the future of The King’s Man prequel series is still up in the air. If The King’s Man can find its audience on home release, there is still hope for The King’s Man 2, and the seeds have already been sown for where the prequel story could go.

The King’s Man is set in the early decades of the 1900s. It tells the story of how Orlando Oxford (Ralph Fiennes) is forced to turn from pacifist to super spy as he goes up against an evil shadow organization (led by “The Shepherd”) that’s plotting the downfall of Europe’s monarchies. Assisted by allies Shola (Djimon Hounsou), Polly (Gemma Arterton), and son Conrad (Harris Dickinson), Oxford manages to foil the plot and turn the tide of the war, but it comes at the cost of Conrad’s life. The King’s Man ends with Oxford, Polly, and Shola, along with Archie Reid (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), King George V (Tom Hollander), and the United States Ambassador (Stanley Tucci) gathered around the table in the Kingsman tailor shop. Dedicating themselves to “preserving peace and protecting life,” they form the agency, each assuming a codename based on the legend of King Arthur – a favorite story of Conrad’s growing up.

Should The King’s Man 2 be greenlit, director Matthew Vaughn has said that it would be set during the agency’s first decade of operation. That period of history is ripe with story potential for the sequel to explore. Though defeated, the Shepherd organization is still operating, with new leader Erik Jan Hanussen (Daniel Brühl) in command. Also, Adolf Hitler is in their ranks, with the end of The King’s Man showing him assassinating the Russian Royal family. The rise of fascism and Hitler’s attempts for power could very well be the focus of the sequel’s story, with the movie possibly then setting up The King’s Man 3 to be set in World War II.

Though their roles in The King’s Man are little more than “bit parts,” Vaughn’s casting of Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Stanley Tucci was also very deliberate in terms of their character’s futures in the Kingsman franchise. He’s said that he wanted to cast the right actor as they’d be playing bigger roles in The King’s Man 2. Taylor-Johnson (code name Lancelot) is a great choice to step into the younger agent character archetype (inhabited by Egerton and Dickinson). Meanwhile, Stanley Tucci’s US Ambassador (code name “Bedivere”) would presumably be instrumental in founding Statesman, the American counterpart of Kingsman that was introduced in Kingsman: The Golden Circle. Around this time is also when the Wall Street Crash of 1929 happened, resulting in The Great Depression, which The King’s Man’s revisionist history could incorporate by having the Shepherd organization responsible for Wall Street’s downfall.

Vladimir Lenin is also part of The Shepherd organization, and communist Russia/Soviet Union is a classic spy movie ingredient that storytellers have utilized for generations. If The King’s Man 2 continues The King’s Man’s creative decision to use real historical figures in its narrative, then Joseph Stalin also rose to power around the time the sequel would be set. Whether the prequel series gets to continue its story remains to be seen, but there is more than enough history in those 10 years to fashion an exciting second chapter in the The King’s Man movie franchise.

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