Vin Diesel Returning for New 'Riddick' Movie

Riddick fans got some good news this week – their first update on the long-waited sequel in years. Writer and director David Twhoy shared the news with reporters from Deadline amid star Vin Diesel's big promotions for Fast X. While the film is now officially going into production, there's no word on when fans may see it for themselves.

"Our legion fans have demanded it for years, and now we're finally ready to honor their call to action with Riddick: Furya," Twhoy said. "My collaboration with Vin and One Race [Films] has spanned 20 fruitful years, as together we've created three movies, two video games, an anime production, and motion comics for the internet. This new big-screen event will see a return to Riddick's homeworld, where we finally get to explore Riddick's genesis."

Diesel first played Richard B. Riddick in the 2000 sci-fi thriller Pitch Black, which was later rebranded as The Chronicles of Riddick: Pitch Black. That cult classic spawned a franchise with a mystifying backstory. However, its release schedule has been inconsistent – after Pitch Black came The Chronicles of Riddick in 2004 followed by Riddick in 2013.

The fourth film has been promised since 2014 when Diesel posted about it on Facebook. It has been referred to interchangeably as Riddick: Furya or The Chronicles of Riddick: Furya – both named for the titular character's home planet. Diesel told fans that he and Twhoy were developing the movie together as an R-rated origin story, and in July of 2019, he even revealed on Instagram that he had an early script by Twhoy in his hands.

While it may explore Riddick's origins, this movie won't be a prequel. Twhoy told Deadline that the titular anti-hero will be returning to his homeworld in trepidation, wondering if anything will be left of it after an attack by the Necromongers. Riddick will also be unlocking some of his own repressed memories as he joins native Furyans in a fight for survival.

The announcement comes alongside the release of the trailer for Fast X, the tenth installment of the mainline Fast & Furious franchise. That movie hits theaters on May 19, 2023. As for Riddick: Furya, it's not clear how far along the pre-production phase is, or whether the script Diesel mentioned was the final draft. There is no release date for the movie just yet.