Weirdly enough, since 2014’s The Expendables 3, there has been a lot of talk about sequels and spin-offs, but nothing has really materialized - until now. According to series creator, Sylvester Stallone, the first spin-off of The Expendables is set to start filming this October.
Who’s going to star in Christmas Story?
As per Stallone’s Instagram post, The Expandables spin-off film will go under the working title of Christmas Story. This suggests that the story will revolve around Lee Christmas. Jason Statham has portrayed the former SAS soldier and resident knives expert in all three of The Expendables films. What is interesting here is that Stallone teased The Expendables earlier this year. In addition to this, Randy Couture also suggested that the fourth installment would start filming this fall. Are both Christmas Story and The Expendables 4 the same? Honestly, we don’t know. Until Stallone provides some clarification, it’s better to assume that Christmas Story is its own movie. Having said that, you can’t exactly blame Stallone for putting The Expendables franchise on the backburner for the past half-decade. Most of the main cast and crew have had their hands full with a lineup of projects. Stallone himself has been around. The 75-year-old action star has been a part of the MCU in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 before going back to reprise his iconic role as Rocky Balboa in the Rocky spinoff films, Creed and Creed II. Stallone even returned to portray John Rambo in Rambo: Last Blood. His most recent stint involved lending his voice for King Shark in James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad, after which he’s set to appear in the superhero film, Samaritan, in 2022.
Are there other The Expendables films in the works?
At the moment, the only The Expendables film that’s in active development is Christmas Story. There’s very little information available about the rest, including the all-female The Expendables spin-off. With that said, Christmas Story is going to be an interesting film. All three films have shown how close Stallone and Statham’s characters are to each other. The spin-off could revolve around the “bromance” between the two as they go off to save the world or do whatever it is that best friends that wipe out entire platoons do whenever they find themselves together.
