2017’s Return of Xander Cage quietly paid off the ending tease of its 2005 predecessor State of the Union. The series is something of a fluke among contemporary action movie franchises in the unlikely success story it’s become, not unlike Vin Diesel’s home in the Fast and Furious series. That very series, which experienced its own revival, also has more to do with the resurrection of Xander Cage than might seem to be the case at first glance.

The 2002 movie was a decent-sized success, with Diesel coming off the previous year’s sleeper hit The Fast and the Furious. Despite this, Diesel would jump ship on the 2005 sequel, State of the Union, being replaced by Ice Cube as the new recruit into the secret agent program, Darius Stone. The movie ended up bombing hard, leaving the series on ice until it was revived in 2017 with Return of Xander Cage, with Diesel returning in the title role, but the film still made a stealthy pay-off to State of the Union‘s ending.

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State of the Union ends with Samuel L. Jackson’s Augustus Gibbons commenting that “I think we need to go even further off the grid next time“, in reference to bringing in the next recruit to the program, with Gibbons adding “I’ve got the perfect candidate“. That candidate would be none other than Donnie Yen’s Xiang, who made his debut in Return of Xander Cage along with other agents on his side. What makes this interesting is just how casual of a pay-off Xiang’s debut really was.

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Considering the failure of State of the Union, it’s likely a significant chunk of Return of Xander Cage‘s audience went into the movie without having seen the second film in the series. Moreover, after a gap of twelve years, a franchise that hadn’t exactly lit the world on fire wouldn’t seem likely to be terribly concerned with maintaining continuity beyond bringing back its title character. Nevertheless, Return of Xander Cage did anything but ignore its predecessor, not only making Xiang the third movie recruit of Gibbons, but also bringing back his second, with Ice Cube returning near the end of the movie as Darius Stone.

In the intervening years between State of the Union and Return of Xander Cage, Vin Diesel made a return to the Fast and Furious franchise, with the series truly breaking out in 2011’s Fast Five and growing into a towering juggernaut, with the upcoming F9 on the way. At the same time, Donnie Yen had also grown into a household name not only through his mid-2000’s hits Sha Po Lang and Flash Point, but even more so with the Ip Man series, with Yen portraying the famed Wing Chun mentor of the legendary Bruce Lee. Diesel’s renewed recognition and Yen’s rising international stardom (further cemented after Rogue One: A Star Wars Story just a month earlier) made a third movie a much more sure bet.

Though Return of Xander Cage saw a muted response stateside, its international numbers made it the biggest of the series, with Yen’s star power making it a huge hit in Asia, and leading to Xander Cage 4 entering development. Whether that has any connective tissue with the first two movies in the series is an open question. Still, it’s a little impressive that with such a long gap between movies, Return of Xander Cage delivered an almost unnoticed payoff to the ending of its immediate predecessor.

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Brad Curran
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Growing up, Brad developed an innate love of movies and storytelling, and was instantly enamored with the world of adventure while following the exploits of Indiana Jones, Japanese kaiju, and superheroes. Today, Brad channels his thoughts on all manner of movies, from comic book films, sci-fi thrillers, comedies, and everything in between through his writings on Screen Rant. Brad also offers philosophical musings on martial arts and the filmographies of everyone from Jackie Chan to Donnie Yen on Kung Fu Kingdom, where he’s also had the privilege of interviewing many of the world’s great stunt professionals, and hearing plenty of gripping stories on injuries incurred in their line of work and the intricacies of designing the acts of death defiance he first thrilled to as a youngster. When he’s not writing, Brad enjoys going on a ride with the latest action hit or Netflix original, though he’s also known to just pop in “The Room” from time to time. Follow Brad on Twitter @BradCurran.

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