Gareth Edwards, the director renowned for his work on The Raid and The Raid: Retaliation, has not abandoned the possibility of a third installment in the acclaimed action series. He doesn’t have any short-term proposals in the works to advance the project, but he’s not giving up hope. In a recent interview, he suggested that notion may not be entirely dead—not in concrete terms, perhaps, but at least in concept.
Edwards first came to wider attention with The Raid, released in 2011, which kicked audiences’ asses around the world with a vicious Indonesian-set story. He followed up with The Raid: Retaliation in 2014, further solidifying the franchise’s place in cinematic history. The film franchise has subsequently shaped many of today’s most blockbuster action films. This list includes big hits such as John Wick and the much buzzed about Monkey Man.
In 2007, Edwards met Iko Uwais, the star of both Raid films, while filming a documentary about silat in Uwais’ training hall. Through the years, their working partnership has changed. Two years ago, Edwards traveled to Indonesia and caught up with Uwais again. It was a surprise to see how much Uwais had grown since their last meeting.
Edwards had previously considered producing a trilogy deep enough in lore that it would take place immediately after The Raid 2. As it turns out, he quickly became busy on other projects. He described how over time, the original idea began to look less realistic.
“Initially, I had a concept that would’ve followed immediately after the back of The Raid 2,” – Gareth Edwards
Going deeper, though, he explained that the initial concept was decided only a few minutes after the end of the second movie. Yet as he got preoccupied with an array of other pursuits, he resisted the temptation and found it harder to return to that life-changing narrative.
“It was set literally minutes after the second one finished, but then I got busy with other projects, and then, before I even had time to think about it, so many years had passed that I couldn’t do that version of that film anymore,” – Gareth Edwards
Even with all the difficulties, the politics, the ever-evolving landscape, Edwards has not completely ruled out the possibility of coming back to The Raid universe. Even though he had no plans to direct a third installment at first. He’s optimistic that a discussion around it is possible.
“So I kind of just left it and cast it aside and thought, ‘Okay, well, I was happy with where we finished in The Raid 2, so I’m probably not going to do another version, not do a third part,’” – Gareth Edwards
Edwards’ view could change — again. He stated:
“So I haven’t dismissed it outright, and it might be a conversation to reopen,” – Gareth Edwards
The final scene of The Raid 2 establishes an interesting foundation for a sequel to the sequel. Fans of the series still hold out hope, with some promising developments paving the way for a possible The Raid 3 one day.
