After the international success of xXx: The Return of Xander Cage, development of a fourth movie in the franchise seemed to gain momentum. D.J. Caruso, director of the third film, even showed interested in working on the sequel, while Vin Diesel made efforts to ensure he has more creative control over any future installments. But while there has also been news regarding the film’s cast and soundtrack, unforeseen developments appear to have slowed down production.
xXx 4’s Story So Far
The film trilogy revolves around the xXx program, an initiative directed by Augustus Gibbons (Samuel L. Jackson), in which extreme sports athletes are recruited to infiltrate terrorist organizations. The first movie tells the story of Xander Cage (Diesel), a rebellious activist who has to track down a stolen biochemical weapon. After killing the leader of the organization responsible for stealing the weapon, Cage chases and stops a drone programmed to release the biochemical agent. Then, in xXx: State of the Union, the apparent death of Cage leads Gibbons to recruit an imprisoned Navy Seal named Darius Stone (Ice Cube). The new xXx quickly discovers a plan to assassinate the president and give control of the country to General Deckert (Willem Dafoe). Stone is then falsely accused of the murder of a military officer, while Gibbons is attacked and taken prisoner. With no one to turn to, Stone and a group of agents lead an assault on the Capitol building to stop the coup, but General Deckert kidnaps the president and tries to escape on a train. Stone and his team chase the train, rescue the president and leave the general to die in the resulting crash.
The third installment, xXx: The Return of Xander Cage, sees Diesel reprise his role as the titular character and take on a mission to recover a device capable of turning a satellite into a remote-controlled missile. After recruiting his own team, Cage discovers that the organization in possession of the weapon is composed of former xXx agents. After the device is destroyed, Cage’s team and his new allies are informed by their new boss, CIA Director Anderson, that a rogue intelligence agent has a new device capable of weaponizing any satellite in orbit and perform multiple attacks. The team finds the location and delivers the table to a military aircraft, but Anderson shoots Cage and sends a satellite to the location where the rest of the team is, revealing she intends to keep the technology. Thankfully, Cage was protected by a bulletproof vest and is saved by Darius Stone, who makes a surprise return and rescues the rest of the team. The movie ends with Cage directing the plane to intercept the falling satellite, jumping towards a parachute and reuniting with the rest of the xXx agents on the ground.
xXx 4’s Cast
While D.J. Caruso’s return has yet to be confirmed yet, it hasn’t stopped different artists from being approached. Taiwanese singer and actor Jay Chou, best remembered for playing Kato in Seth Rogen’s The Green Hornet, and Chinese actress Zoe Zhang, have both reportedly joined the cast. The pair would join Diesel, who will not only return as the titular character but also produce the film, and Deepika Padukone, who plays Serena Unger, another former xXx agent and Cage’s love interest. Japanese musician Yoshiki Hayashi will compose the music for the film. Founder of the Japanese rock band X Japan, Yoshiki is best known for performing “Red Swan”, the opening for the third season of the popular anime Attack on Titan. Vin Diesel
xXx 4’s Development
Initially, production on xXx 4 gained momentum after Vin Diesel’s production company, One Race Films, joined forces with The H Collective to buy the rights for future films from Revolution Studios. Production was then expected to begin in 2019, but the ball didn’t really get rolling until 2020, which caused the pandemic to delay things. And a new lawsuit may push production even further back. A company named Weying Galaxy is suing The H Collective for a previous joint venture that was allegedly supposed to grant them 100 percent of the rights of future xXx movies, leaving the sequel’s status uncertain.
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