Home > Film > What the XXX: Vin Diesel returns with Jaa, McGregor AND Yen.

What the XXX: Vin Diesel returns with Jaa, McGregor AND Yen.

xXx: The Return of Xander Cage

It was already a impressive cast-list for the unexpected return of Vin Diesel’s and the franchise. But now has replaced and it’s all systems go…


Donnie Yen joins the cast of XXX-3

Donnie Yen joins the cast of XXX-3

The XXX franchise was launched in 2002 with Fast & Furious director Rob Cohen and leading man taking this project instead of a Fast & Furious sequel – with the aim of making an extreme sports take on into a new franchise. The film was a huge success with Samuel L Jackson and Asia Argento joining Diesel and Cohen for the adventure. An inevitable sequel was soon green-lit, but ‘creative differences‘ between Cohen and Diesel had surfaced during production and neither man returned for XXX 2: State of the Union hitting the screen in 2005, with Ice Cube as the newest recruit and holder of the XXX identity.

As a pre-cursor to the sequels release, Rob Cohen directed a short The Death of Xander Cage which was online before the movie’s release, showing what appeared to be the death of the original hero in a huge explosion that leaves his tattooed skin being recovered by the bad guys.

The second film did good – if not great – business and there was alwaystalk of a potential third film in the series and possibly a female XXX – with another F & F star, Michelle Rodriguez, being linked to the project, but ultimately nothing came of it. However production has now begun on DJ Caruso’s XXX: The Return of Xander Cage, which sees Vin Diesel returning to the character, who it is revealed… drum-roll, please… has been in hiding and assumed dead until a mission requires his return to action.

It’s not been confirmed yet whether Samuel L Jackson will be returning as the eponymous Augustus Gibbons, the man responsible for the XXX program but it’s rumoured that Ice Cube will also be joining the action once again.  However they’d assembled a very impressive cast for the project including Nina Dobrev (from The Vampire Diaries), Ruby Rose (from Orange is the New Black),  Toni Collette (Muriel’s Wedding, The Sixth Sense), Bollywood actress Deepika Padukone, UFC champion Connor McGregor and Diesel’s F&F 7 co-star Tony Jaa join the fight.

Jet Li was also apparently on board but has now let the project for unknown reasons. Action fans shouldn’t fret too much, however, as his replacement is none other than busy actor and Ip Man himself Donnie Yen (see our recent exclusive interview with Donnie here). Diesel just facebook’d  a picture of he and Donnie hard at work on the set of the film (see top) which is being directed by D J Caruso, the man who helmed the likes of I am Number Four, Disturbia and episodes of The Shield.

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