Donnie Yen is an action movie icon and stole 2017’s The Return Of Xander Cage. If the series is to grow and evolve, he should front a spin off.
Having basically stole the third movie, it makes sense for Donnie Yen to front a Xander Cage spinoff. When Vin Diesel made the shock decision not to return for State Of The Union following the 2002 original, the producers experimented with an anthology format. They cast Ice Cube as Darius Stone, the latest agent to take on Xander Cage’s titular title, and if the sequel had been a hit, then another actor would have taken over the role for a third adventure. This format didn’t click with audiences in 2005, however, and the sequel bombed at the box office.
Following his renewed success with The Fast And Furious series, Diesel dusted off Xander Cage’s tattoo for The Return Of Xander Cage. While this third outing received almost universally negative reviews, it was a solid hit and proved there was life in the series yet. The sequel also decided to link with State Of The Union, bringing back Ice Cube for a small but fun cameo and revealing that following Cage’s absence, many different agents had taken his place.
This includes action movie legend Donnie Yen as Xiang, who stole the movie with his martial arts moves and sheer charisma. From 1993 Hong Kong classic Iron Monkey, his Ip Man series and even his supporting turn in 2016’s Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Yen is a true movie star.
The Return Of Xander Cage really lights up whenever he appears onscreen, and the character evolves from apparent villain to Cage’s closest ally. While Xander Cage 4 is currently in development, if the series is to expand and grow, it should give Xiang his own movie.
Just like The Fast And The Furious movies, Diesel opted to assemble a diverse group of characters and actors for The Return Of Xander Cage, including Deepika Padukone, Ruby Rose and Tony Jaa. Like Fast & Furious each had their own spinoff potential, but Donnie Yen’s Xiang is the most logical choice of the bunch. He’s already a movie star with a global fanbase, and the sequel barely
scratched the surface of the character. A spinoff could delve deeper into his backstory, including his time as an agent and what led him down that path in the first place.
Yen’s star is only set to rise further with a major role in the upcoming John Wick: Chapter 4. A spinoff could partly fulfill the mission brief of State Of The Union by focusing on a different agents journey while expanding the scope of the series. Xander Cage 4 is currently mired in a lawsuit but the series will return eventually, and based on the third movie, a lot of viewers would willing to see a solo Xiang adventure.