Movies

‘Boondock Saints 3’ Is Officially Happening, and Fans Are Stoked

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The Boondock Saints is getting a third installment, and fans couldn’t be more excited. Stars Norman Reedus and Sean Patrick Flanery will both return for The Boondock Saints 3, according to a report by Deadline, along with original writer and director Troy Duffy. Fans can’t wait for this franchise’s triumphant return.

The Boondock Saints stars Flanery and Reedus as fraternal twin brothers who become vigilantes after they kill two members of the Russian Mafia in self-defense and find themselves on the run. They take it upon themselves to go after more criminals in the hopes of “cleaning up” their home city, Boston, Massachusetts. The movie debuted in 1999 and was followed by The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day in 2009. At the time, Duffy mentioned a possible third film in an interview with IGN, but it has taken over a decade to come to fruition.

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Back then, Duffy said that the third movie would be called Boondock Saints III: Saints Preserve Us, but the latest announcements do not confirm that title. There was also talk of a TV spinoff called The Boondock Saints: Origins which has not come up in recent years. Meanwhile, Reedus became more famous than ever thanks to The Walking Dead.

Now, fans are finally getting the third installment they have longed for and they seem to be ecstatic. Here’s a look at what they’re saying on social media.

Casting

Finally, many fans had further questions beyond the announcement, which only said that Duffy, Reedus and Flanery would be returning, and that filming would begin in the May of 2022. Many hope to see Dafoe return to the franchise as well.

Disappointment

Of course, not everyone was excited for The Boondock Saints 3. Some fans felt that the original does not hold up to the test of time, and that the action genre has evolved beyond the scope of this story. Many even brought up the movie’s tangential association with the Columbine school shooting, which was carried out before the movie’s release and reportedly stunted the premiere.

Modern Boston

Fans speculated about who the brothers would go after in this movie, feeling that there are greater threats to Boston than organized crime these days. Many tried to imagine the story set in a modern version of the city.

Daryl Dixon

Of course, fans imagined it would be hard to perceive Reedus as his old character again after he became so iconic for playing Daryl Dixon on The Walking Dead. However, some thought that he had developed a wider range to showcase here.

River Dancing

A GIF from the first movie showing Willem Dafoe’s understated reaction to good news became the preferred response to this renewal news on Twitter.

Sequel

The Boondock Saints II was not nearly as popular as the original, so some fans thought that it should be removed from the canon. They would prefer the third installment ignore it altogether.

‘About Time’

Fans remarked on the long wait for this movie, but some seemed to think that it was inevitable that it would get made. It was only a matter of time.