After four outings, The Expendables are spicing things up with its next return…well, sort of. The action-thriller franchise is set to branch out into its first spin-off, and it will be headlined by women, to boot.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Eclectic Pictures and Hollywood Ventures Group are tag-teaming to bring back the project first announced in 2012, with Legally Blonde director Robert Luketic tapped to helm a version penned by scribes Kirsten Smith and Karen McCullah. Reportedly, it was to follow female operatives who had to pose as call girls to rescue a nuclear scientist being held hostage, which, uh, isn’t in the best taste.
The offshoot, now reimagined as The Expandabelles, is described as “an origin story set in the late 1990s during the height of Y2K-era tension and geopolitical uncertainty”. As the producers are in the process of gathering creative talents to line up its roster, no names have been attached just yet, but whoever gets picked can expect “a stylised, action-driven cinematic event designed to expand the mythology of the franchise while standing firmly on its own.”
There have been more concerted efforts in recent times to put more female leads into focus, be it mainline instalments or isolated offshoots, including the 2019 reboot of Charlie’s Angels starring Kristen Stewart, Naomi Scott, and Ella Balinska as the new generation of agents, 2020’s Birds of Prey centring on Harley Quinn and the titular team, the Birds of Prey, as well as the Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga trilogy.
Within the Expendables universe, later instalments gradually introduced more women into their roster, which has welcomed the likes of Bruce Willis, Liam Hemsworth, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Harrison Ford, Wesley Snipes, Mel Gibson, Glen Powell, Antonio Banderas, and Victor Ortiz, alongside Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Randy Couture, Steve Austin, Terry Crews, and Mickey Rourke. 2024’s The Expend4bles was the most recent entry in the franchise, opening to negative reviews from critics and eventually grossing a disappointing US$51 million worldwide.
Si Jia is a casual geek at heart – or as casual as someone with Sephiroth’s theme on her Spotify playlist can get. A fan of movies, games, and Japanese culture, Si Jia’s greatest weakness is the Steam Summer Sale. Or any Steam sale, really.
Kevin Low
