Vin Diesel Announces 'xXx 3' on Instagram, Despite His Character Being Dead

With Furious 7 cresting $1 billion at the box office, star Vin Diesel has finally figured out that franchises are the way to go. He’s set up for Furious 8 for spring of 2017, and after that he’s looking to reignite another moribund franchise with hopes of a similar lucrative outcome.

The actor announced on Instagram that the third xXx movie, yet untitled, will start filming in December on location in the Philippines. The James Bond-meets-the-X-Games (remember the X-Games?) franchise that Diesel began in 2002.

But wait, you ask, how will his character, Xander Cage, appear in a threequel!? Only the most adamant of Diesel purists will remember that Cage was written out of the critically reviled second film, xXx: State of the Union, which instead starred actor/rapper Ice Cube. Even more adamant Diesel fans will point to the four-minute bonus feature from the xXx director’s cut DVD, entitled The Final Chapter: The Death of Xander Cage, where Diesel’s character was literally killed off onscreen.

Considering that there’s no word on the plot yet other than its international locale, and that the script that’s been circulating for years is allegedly titled xXx 3: The Return of Xander Cage, there’s obviously going to be a little retconning to be done here. But its relation to the Fast series makes the similarities intriguing. Diesel dropped out of the first Fast sequel for behind-the-scenes squabbles, and was eventually coaxed back to the series. It paid off with tankloads of cash, a playbook xXx seems eager to follow.

It’ll also be fascinating to see if and how they transition away from the cheesy extreme sports motifs that made the original character fizzle out quickly enough to be cut out of the sequel altogether. The Fast series has constantly reinvented itself, and has become one of the best action movie franchises of all time. There’s no reason to think Diesel (who has also become the film’s producer) can’t help do the same with xXx.