Here’s why Jean-Claude Van Damme didn’t return for Timecop 2, despite the film being one of his biggest hits. Van Damme’s unique charisma and martial arts skills were put on full display thanks to early successes like Kickboxer and Blood Sport. During the early ’90s, he seemed poised to become a major star on par with contemporaries like Schwarzenegger and Stallone, especially following hits like Street Fighter or Timecop.
The latter remains his biggest solo success, with the story following his time-traveling cop trying to stop an evil politician’s (played by the late, great Ron Silver) scheme. Timecop had a great premise, made good use of Van Damme’s fighting and acting style and grossed over $100 million worldwide.
Sadly, issues with addiction and demanding high paydays saw JCVD’s star wane in the second half of the decade.
While there have been plenty of follow-ups to his biggest hits, Van Damme himself has tended to avoid them. He passed on the likes of Kickboxer 2, No Retreat, No Surrender 2, Hard Target 2 and more. Van Damme – who still has a few franchises to his name – was also nowhere to be seen in 2003’s direct-to-DVD entry Timecop 2: The Berlin Decision. Instead, Jason Scott Lee played a new Time Enforcement Commission officer chasing after Thomas Ian Griffith (Cobra Kai’s Terry Silver) villain, who intends to assassinate Hitler in 1940.
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By this point in his career, Van Damme had already made films for STV, but neither he nor his character appeared in Time Cop 2. Considering how popular the 1994 original was, it’s odd in retrospect that no attempt was made to make a theatrical sequel to Time Cop 2. Van Damme is back. The actor himself later blamed this on the TV series Time Cop, which debuted in 1997 and lasted only nine episodes before being cancelled.
Although the Time Cop series referenced in Rick and Morty received good (if not great) reviews, Van Damme felt it cheapened the franchise’s potential on the big screen. This was probably the reason he made the “Berlin Solution”, and although there was talk of a reboot of the film, nothing came of it. The original remains a cult classic, so before Van Damme officially retires (which he looks set to do with his next action film), Cop 2 would be a great way to cap off his action movie career.