This week, Netflix announced it would produce a sequel to Bright, the Bad Boys-meets-World of Warcraft action movie that critics panned but audiences watched in droves, and mostly loved.
“Bright did something new and it was beautifully well made. It didn’t try to make history but I ended the movie with the feeling that I was leaving another planet and that I could not wait to go back,” writes one representative redditor.
David Ayers will return to write and direct the Bright sequel, but sadly, Orc auditions are already closed.
The world of Bright is expansive and deals with a lot of familiar fantasy elements mixed with present-day Earth. As such, there are loads of questions about what goes on in the, uhh, Bright-verse. Undoubtedly, the sequel — sequels? — will do more to answer the questions below, while creating new ones.
Spoilers are ahead if you haven’t seen Bright.
Will he go back to the wand?
8. Will Smith’s Daryl Ward will wield a wand in sequel, even though he doesn’t want to.
We learned at the end of the film that Ward is a “Bright” — the name for a rare being that can control a magic wand. But it soon became clear that the cop five years from retirement wants nothing to do with magic. Surely this won’t be the end of his Bright realization. The character of Ward is a one-line wonder, a role tailored for Smith. Watching him wield a wand would be incredibly fun, and it’d offer the type of situations that would prompt lines on par with “Welcome to Earth!” Give Will Smith a wand, already.
What's going down in Elftown?
7. It’s going down in Elftown.
“Ain’t nothing over but rich-ass elves; running the world and … shopping,” remarks Ward, as they pull their cop SUV into this power center of alternate-L.A. Like all of the obvious, heavy-handed allegories in Bright, Elftown’s a stand-in for Beverly Hills: Its denizens are wealthy and love selfies, but we don’t learn much beyond that. Once we learn elves are the upper class, the reason for seeing Elftown is accomplished. There are hints at discontent over the social stratification, which could be interesting to see explored in a sequel. Will we see Elftown riots or Mad Men-styled meetings? We should find out in the sequel.
Blooded.
6. Now that he’s blooded, Nick Jakoby become less meek.
Behind dramatic makeup, Joel Edgerton plays a loyal, good-hearted Orc cop who’s Ward’s partner. He’s always been an outsider among Orcs (see: shaved-down fangs) but now that he’s been “blooded” — which basically means he receives a brutal gash across his palm a la the classic “blood brother” ritual — it’s possible he might follow the path of traditional Orc culture. In the world of Bright, he might take on an more anti-authoritarian attitude, which would be odd, as he’s the authority, a police officer. It will be interesting to see how Edgerton’s Jakoby develops. It’s likely that part of the newly blooded Jakoby will resent being a sidekick.
Serling: He's more than meets the eye -- or is he?
5. Serling and the Shield of Light will have a prominent role.
The crazy man wielding a sword in the street in the beginning of the Bright offers more than meets the eye. He’s a member of the Shield of Light, the activist group that wants to prevent the return of the Dark Lord — who seems to be an elf, based on art in the movie — who 2,000 years before the events of the film, enslaved the world with the power of a magic wand. I’m betting we’re going to learn more about Serling and the Shield of Light in the Bright sequel.
Leilah, leader of the Inferni's LA chapter.
4. The Inferni’s scale and power will be vividly illustrated.
Essentially, this is a terrorist (err, “renegade”) group in the movie, comprised of elves in service to the Dark Lord. They also apparently destroyed the Illuminati in 1917. We don’t know much about the group, other than what we saw from Leila, the now-dead Bright elf who used a magic wand to wreak havoc. It’s safe the assume the power hinted at in the first film will be fully realized in the sequel.
Kandomere
3. Kandomere and the Magic Task Force will take a back seat.
It seems like a spin-off movie or series could be made solely about the work of at the Magic Task Force, a federal law enforcement agency sort of like the Department of Homeland Security mixed with the FBI. We meet Kandomere (who’s partnered with human Montehugh) in a subplot in the movie, as they attempt to track down magic wands. Kandoemere is a elvish dresser, which is to say his style is extremely steampunk-meets-zoot suit. Like most movies about fantasy, actual government or law enforcement — the most powerful forces in the real world — will be upstaged by magic.
The top Orc.
2. We will learn the full story of Jirak.
Speculation among Bright fans is that Jirak , who led the Orcs and the “Nine Armies” (the nine races in the Bright universe) 2,000 years ago in a battle against the Dark Lord, is an allegory for Jesus, the Christian leader. The Orcs — Jakoby in particular in the movie — revere Jirak as such a figure. Legend has it that Jirak defeated the Dark Lord using the evil god’s own magic wand. Like Jakoby, he was blooded after this heroic act, fulfilling a prophecy. The prophecy that Jakoby thinks he and Ward are fulfilling in the movie is similar to the one that Jirak fulfilled. To appreciate the world of Bright, we will need to learn more about the story of Jirak.
Alive!
1. Tikka will rise to be a leader.
This is perhaps the sleeper question for the sequel. The quiet elf and former member of the Inferni is powerful, but we don’t learn much about her during the film. There are other, louder questions about other characters that dominate the mind while watching.
But Tikka, played by Lucy Fry, offers the most mystery, especially after we learn at the end of the film that she’s still alive. What paths will she take Jakoby and Ward down in the Bright sequel? My guess is that she will — or should — rise to be a leader in the next movie, a far cry from the sort of scared, cold, wet being she was in the first.
