A sequel to Spenser Confidential is in the works, one of Netflix's most popular movies of all time. Starring Mark Wahlberg and directed by Peter Berg, the 2020 comedy/action movie was watched by 85 million households in its first month – no doubt helped by the fact it was released in March, just before the pandemic hit and everything shut down.
The news was confirmed by Berg, who mentioned that screenwriter Brian Helgeland was already working on a script for a Spenser Confidential 2 in a conversation with Collider. "Brian Helgeland, who wrote the first script, just turned in a first draft last week. So we’re definitely going to do Spenser Confidential 2, we’re just trying to figure out the dates." Collider mentions that Berg is aiming to have the film in production by the end of 2021, or by early 2022.
Netflix has some form in making sequels to its original movies: films like The Kissing Booth and To All The Boys I've Loved Before have already received follow-ups, while a sequel is reportedly in the works to the Chris Hemsworth movie Extraction.
Spenser Confidential is about a former police officer (Mark Wahlberg) who gets out of jail, and finds himself teaming up with an MMA fighter (Winston Duke) to find those who killed his old cop buddies.
Critics didn't love the film, with Rotten Tomatoes' metric suggesting that just 36% gave it a positive review.
Still, can 85 million households dealing with a global pandemic really be wrong?
Netflix took over movies this year
Culturally, this will be remembered as a strange year. Theaters are reopening now in most countries as Tenet finally hits the big screen, but the lack of a summer movie blockbuster season this year has paved the way for Netflix to grab a lot of attention simply by having plenty of product in the can.
The Old Guard, Project Power, Extraction and Spenser Confidential are all movies we ended up watching because they gave us something to do. Even if none of those films are perfect, it's certainly better than a season without any big new films to enjoy.
