Hopes for a 6 Underground sequel can officially be quashed. The 2019 Michael Bay-directed Netflix action film will not be getting a second iteration, Variety reports in a new profile of Scott Stuber, Netflix’s movie chief, despite a previous indication from Reynolds that he would be up to reprise his role as One.
6 Underground, which reportedly cost Netflix a whopping $150 million, followed six untraceable agents who go off the grid to erase their pasts and form an elite task force to save the world. Starring alongside Reynolds were Mรฉlanie Laurent, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Ben Hardy, Adria Arjona, Dave Franco and Corey Hawkins.
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When asked in December 2019 about the possibility of a second movie, Reynolds told CinePop, “Yes, we would all do one because we all love each other.” He continued, “This cast genuinely loves each other. So we would be thrilled if it happens.” Despite that sentiment, Variety reported that Netflix had no plans to continue the franchise, which Stuber admitted was something of a disappointment.
“We didn’t feel like we got there on that one creatively,” he told the magazine. “It was a nice hit, but at the end of the day we didn’t feel like we nailed the mark to justify coming back again. There just wasn’t that deep love for those characters or that world.” Other films that the streamer does plan to follow up are Extraction and The Old Guard, and The Kissing Booth 3 is slated to premiere next month. Netflix is also finalizing a script for Bright 2, starring Will Smith and Joel Edgerton, and has plans to build out Zack Snyder’s Army of the Dead universe.
While Netflix initially played up the importance of viewership data when it first got into moviemaking, saying it gave the company a competitive leg up when it came to choosing projects that would pique its viewers’ interest. Stuber said that while he still looks at that data before making major decisions, there’s more to it than simply combing through the numbers. “It’s all gut,” Stuber said of his strategy. “The data stuff is hugely overstated. At the end of the day, you have to ask: Do you believe in it? Do you have passion for it? Do you think it’s going to work?”