Gavin O’Connell, director of The Accountant, has revealed that a deal has just been signed for a sequel, with Ben Affleck and Jon Bernthal returning. Exactly when, of course, remains to be seen, but there’s no Way Back from here…

According to director Gavin O’Connor, contracts for The Accountant 2 have officially been signed. The Accountant, written by Bill Dubuque and directed by O’Connor, stars Ben Affleck, Anna Kendrick, J.K. Simmons, Jon Bernthal, Jeffrey Tambor and John Lithgow. The film was a huge box office success on release, so a sequel seemed almost inevitable.

There had been talked of the filmmakers starting a sequel since 2017, but things have been slow since then. In a big update on its status, O’Connor said that contracts have now been finalised, meaning that The Accountant 2 appears to be well on its way to a release. Unfortunately for fans of The Way Back, the director also confirmed that that film would not be getting a sequel, unlike The Accountant. From CinemaBlend’s ReelBlend podcast:

“There won’t be The Way Back sequel, but we will do a sequel to The Accountant. We just closed the deal. We’re doing The Accountant again.”

Even better, O’Connor says the plan is to bring Ben Affleck and Jon Bernthal back to reprise their roles from the first film. In the original movie, Bernthal’s character Braxton turns out to be the long-lost brother of Affleck’s Christian, so he’s expected to have a much bigger role in The Accountant 2. In addition to plans for the first sequel, O’Connor also revealed that he already has ideas for the third instalment and that the second instalment will be developed with The Accountant 3 in mind. As the director explained:

“I’ve always wanted to do three because we’re going to do more in the second one… We’re going to incorporate his brother into the story. So Bernthal will have more screen time in the second part. And the third film is what I call the “Rain Man on steroids“. The third film will be about the two brothers, this odd couple..”

In 2019, Affleck raised the possibility of a sequel in an interview with Collider, though he wasn’t entirely sure if it would eventually happen. He made it clear that he was open to reprising the role in a sequel and noted how much he enjoyed working with O’Connor. He also described how they discussed possible directions for the next film.

“Yes, I hope so. I’d love to,” Affleck said when asked if there would be a sequel. “We talked to the studio, and they seemed interested, and they brought it up, so we’d like to do it. I think it would be fun. I love Gavin; I love the movie I did with him. It was a great experience, and I loved his character in The Accountant. I would be open to it.”

Not much has been revealed about Part 2 of The Accountant, so it’s not yet known when filming might start and when it might be in cinemas. In any case, for fans who are eager to see more of Affleck and Bernthal in The Accountant 2, this is fantastic new news about where the project is going and where it wants to go next.

Source: CinemaBlend