Boondock Saints III is Actually Happening, Norman Reedus Threatens

Some cult classics are born from the great talent they feature, others get by on a good idea, and some are simply willed into existence by hardcore fans who spend a lot of money on DVDs and dorm room posters. The Boondock Saints, written by novice writer and director Troy Duffy during his breaks while bartending, is an example of the latter. The brutal crime thriller starring Sean Patrick Flanery, Norman Reedus, and Willem Dafoe was a box-office failure that received a critical drubbing, but has since become something of a staple in the ultra-ruthless thriller subgenre.

Now, 25 years after the original film — and 15 years after The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day — the vigilante brothers are making one more trip to Boston, but there’s a twist.

According to Deadline, The Boondock Saints III is officially a go, and will see Flanery and Reedus reprise their roles as fraternal twins Connor and Murphy MacManus. However, there’s no word on Dafoe yet, and Troy Duffy will not return to direct the threequel, instead choosing to continue his version of the MacManus’ adventures in a book series.

The project has been a long time coming. The idea of a third film was first floated in 2011, but Duffy told IGN in 2012 that it wouldn’t happen. Another attempt happened later in the 2010s, but in 2017, Sean Patrick Flanery announced he and Reedus had backed out of the project.

But even that wasn’t enough to stop The Boondock Saints III, a movie that apparently must be made at all costs. In 2021, the threequel was again announced as being back on track, with its stars returning and Duffy back as director. That’s not the version coming to screens now — this current iteration is a “reimagining” looking for a director — but it will still follow the twins as they carry their vigilante missions against organized crime into their golden years.

Thankfully, it doesn’t look like Duffy’s departure involved any bad blood. “We are pressing on without our longtime friend and Captain, Troy Duffy, on this one,” Reedus said. “He has decided to write a Boondock Saints book series and I can’t wait to read it.”

So if this latest attempt to get BSIII off the ground also falls through, at least we’ll have some upcoming novels about a lot of guys getting shot. Against all odds, Boondocks has evolved into a full-fledged franchise bigger than its creator, which is what every cult classic aspires to achieve.