Multiple Korean news outlets are reporting that a third follow-up to Kang Yoon-sung’s 2017 cop thriller vehicle, The Outlaws, is well on the way with a forth installment already in development.
Lee Sang-yong, who directed the second film, The Roundup, will rejoin his star to helm the pic which is currently slated for a 2023 release. Partial casting details reported by Maeil Business Newspaper’s Han Hyun-jung further include Lee Jun-hyuk (Baseball Girl, Along With The Gods 1 & 2), Munetaka Aoki (Rurouni Kenshin franchise), Lee Beom-su (The Divine Move, Unfinished), and Kim Min-jae (Unstoppable, The Battleship Island).
The report also hints that successes on the second, the pending third and fourth films could also lead to possible developments for four more titles in the line-up, totaling eight films altogether.
Lee, who also stars in films like The Unjust, Kundo, Train To Busan and Derailed to name a few, headlined writer/director Kang’s The Outlaws with a story inspired in part by actual events between 2004 and 2007. The film centers on detective Ma Suk-do whose unit is tasked with keeping the peace in Garibong-dong between Korean gangs and a brutal Chinese crime boss and debt collector.
The Roundup, the second film with a new director brings our main star back into the fray as Ma and his team go above and beyond the call of duty to catch an elusive criminal in Vietnam. The film also stars Son Seok-gu, Choi Gwi-hwa and Park Ji-hwan opens next week in South Korean cinemas beginning May 18 from ABO Entertainment.
Further details remain pending on the third installment as cameras are set to roll in June.
Lee, also known regionally as Ma Dong-seok, has also made his Hollywood breakthrough appearing in Marvel’s The Eternals, and is additionally set to appear in director Lim Dae-hee’s upcoming fantasy action horror, Holy Night: Demon Hunters, which wrapped principal photography last Fall.