While Edgar Wright fans are likely turning their attentions to his latest film, Baby Driver, there are some who still keep a keen eye on the past. More specifically, someone has invoked the possibility of a sequel to Wright's second, and arguably best film, Hot Fuzz. Normally, we'd tell you not to get your hopes up, but considering Wright said the following in a recent interview, the idea of a sequel is a whole lot clearer:
I've definitely had some ideas and me and Simon [Pegg] have even talked about it at points, but it's that thing of, do I want to spend three years of my life doing that? Or do I wanna, if I have the opportunity to tell a new story, would I do that? If somebody said to me, if Baby Driver 2, if that kind of came up, it would be like, 'I have ideas.' I would never say never, and you're not wrong to say that that's the one that you could do further installments.
Edgar Wright's approach to sequels seems really smart. While he's not flat out rejecting the possibility, he does mention the big reason why he's not sure about Hot Fuzz 2's chances: he isn't the type of guy who dwells on the past easily. You can see it pretty clearly in his filmography thus far, as he hasn't made any sequels, or to be honest, any projects that heavily overlap with his previous films. But if any of his previous films was best suited for a sequel, it'd definitely be Hot Fuzz.
Buddy cop films are easy to create franchises out of, especially looking back on the four Lethal Weapon movies, three Beverly Hills Cop entries, and two Bad Boys films (plus two possible sequels) that exist in the world today. So to give Nick, Danny, and the rest of the Sanford's finest another mystery to solve seems like it would pretty much be an open and shut case. Regardless, the most important ingredient to the film would be the one that might be the most difficult to reinvent: the jokes.
If Edgar Wright isn't feeling like three years on Hot Fuzz 2 is worth the while, despite the ideas he may have cooked up with Simon Pegg, then it's not worth even breaching the subject. It wasn't the police work that made audiences laugh beyond belief with the original film, it was all of the carefully created homages, sight gags, and action sequences that Wright peppered his film with. So really, as fans, we have to ask ourselves the same question the creator of Hot Fuzz has asked himself: do we really want to go back to the well, especially if it may not be as fun and exciting as the last time?
What's kept the universe of Edgar Wright films spinning, and fans coming back for more, is you never know what to expect from him. When Baby Driver was announced, we had no idea what it would look or sound like, until the recent ad campaign kicked in. From the advanced word on the film's quality, it sounds like another home run out of Wright's imagination, and we're all the more excited for it because of that fact. But at the same time, if Hot Fuzz 2 were announced today, as proposed in the MovieWeb interview Wright recently took part in, we'd still be pretty curious as to how he could top himself after previously delivering one of the best action comedies of our modern time.
For now, we'll never say never to a Hot Fuzz sequel, but we're all about Baby Driver, as it pulls into theaters on June 28th. But who's keeping track?
