Despite some recent, rather surprising developments, the Fast and Furious franchise remains the most successful in action star Vin Diesel’s arsenal. However, with the series that transformed Diesel’s Dom from highway robber to world-saving secret agent now ground to a halt, the actor is turning to some of his other best-known characters in the hopes of giving them more adventures. And this one would see him do even more world-saving than Dom and his family.
Taking to Instagram, Diesel teased an imminent future for his unorthodox special agent Xander Cage, the lead of the divisive xXx (aka Triple X) franchise. Sharing an image of himself sporting Cage’s big fur coat and tattoos, Diesel thanked fans for making the most recent offering, 2017’s xXx: Return of Xander Cage a streaming success all these years later and calling Xander the “American answer to Bond.”
“When I think about the characters I have the honor to portray, Dom, Riddick, Xander, Kaulder, Groot… they all have something that speaks to me on a deeper level. But, I have to say the one that is the most outright fun, the most moments of levity fueled by extreme sports action, is Xander Cage. Groot is fun too, of course, haha, but what’s incredible about Xander is that it started as the fun answer to the spy genre. The American answer to Bond, and then grew into something even bigger. A truly global franchise with the most international cast you could imagine.
I didn’t want the week to end without thanking you all for making “The Return of Xander Cage” the top watched movie of October on Paramount+ around the world.”
Recent Streaming Success Has Already Revived Another Divisive Vin Diesel Franchise
Released in 2002 in the ancient times before the Fast and Furious franchise had reached double figures, xXx was directed by Rob Cohen and stars Vin Diesel as Xander Cage, an extreme sports enthusiast who is recruited by Samuel L. Jackson’s Augustus Gibbons, a high-ranking official in the National Security Agency, who offers Cage the chance to become a spy. xXx was met with divisive reviews upon release, landing scores of 48% and 58% from critics and audiences, respectively. Despite Diesel’s charm, xXx mostly failed to reinvent the spy genre in the way the actor had hoped, though it did gross a massive $277 million worldwide against its $88 million budget.
A Diesel-less sequel, xXx: State of the Union, was released in 2005 and finds Ice Cube joining the fray as another radical undercover agent. Met with an even harsher mauling than its predecessor (17% from critics and 32% from audiences on Rotten Tomatoes), Diesel returned for another rush of adrenaline in 2017’s Return of Xander Cage, bringing the likes of Donnie Yen, Deepika Padukone, Kris Wu, Ruby Rose, Tony Jaa, Nina Dobrev, and Toni Collette with him.
Received similarly to the first outing, there is little doubt that action and Diesel fans would like to see his “American answer to Bond” return for more. Last we heard, development on xXx 4 has been stalled, but recent streaming success would not be the first time that Diesel has brought back a struggling franchise for a long-awaited sequel.
- Release Date
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January 20, 2017
- Runtime
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110minutes
