Don’t tease me like this, Gareth! As most of you know, Gareth Evans is the director of The Raid and The Raid 2, which I have called the two best action movies possibly of all time. It’s been years since those movies, though, and Evans has publicly shot down the idea of doing a third, stabbing millions of action fans right in the guts. But with Evans revisiting the genre with the Tom Hardy thriller, Havoc, it’s inevitably brought up questions about The Raid 3…and Evans isn’t shooting them down anymore.
Participating in a Reddit AMA, Evans talked about his reasons for not wanting to do The Raid 3 years earlier. But he also admits that the thought of doing one more has crossed his mind…
“It’s in the past when I first did ‘The Raid 2,’ I’d sort of announced unhelpfully at the time that I had a concept in mind for ‘The Raid 3,’ and that I would make it next after another project that I was set up to do. Then, it fell by the wayside because the concept was set literally minutes after the second film finished. And so the more time went on, the harder it was to even contemplate making that version of a ‘Raid 3.’”
Evans continued, “So when that happened, I was very much sort of like, ‘Yeah, no, done, not finishing it, not doing any more with it.’ And it felt like when Rama’s character says, ‘I’m done’ at the end of ‘The Raid 2,’ that was also an extension of me saying I was done with it…However, I won’t lie and say I haven’t had thoughts about what a potential Raid 3 could be. And on top of that, having traveled back to Indonesia once COVID lifted, and being able to go back again, and seeing Iko for the first time in seven years, all of those memories of making those films then flooded back. So maybe… okay, very long-winded answer of not giving an answer, but it’s definitely on my mind and could be something that we revisit.”
It’s good to hear that Evans and Uwais had a chance to reconnect. Even if they don’t make The Raid 3, those two just click as a director/actor duo and they need to make more movies together. I am cautiously optimistic here, but won’t allow myself to get too worked up.
Evans’ next film, Havoc, hits Netflix on April 25th.
