Netflix's Polar director teases sequel possibilities

[Canada]

Netflix's Polar director teases sequel possibilities

Director Jonas Åkerlund has teased possible sequel ideas for the new Netflix film Polar. Adapted from the web series-turned-graphic novel from author Víctor Santos, Polar is based on the first film in the series and stars Mads Mikkelsen.

In Polar, Mikkelsen stars as Duncan Vizla (aka the Black Kaiser), a recently retired hitman whose retirement is suddenly interrupted - putting his life at risk as a result. After discovering that his former employer has put out a hit on him, Duncan is forced to protect himself by any means necessary - all the while protecting his new friend, a mysterious young woman named Camille (Vanessa Hudgens). Åkerlund revealed that his adaptation is based off the first Polar book, while also borrowing some elements from the sequels, and that there is plenty more story to explore if Polar is ever greenlit for a live-action sequel of its own.

Related: Polar Movie Cast & Character Guide

During a Polar interview with Screen Rant, Åkerlund opened up about the possibilities of a live-action Polar sequel. Considering that the graphic novels offer more stories to tell within Duncan's life post-retirement, he explained that fans have more to look forward to if his first adaptation ends up warranting more entries. When asked if there were any elements from the source material that he would like to incorporate into potential sequels, he said:

"It's supposed to be based on the first book, but we kind of borrowed a little bit from the second and the third book as well. And we also added some stuff that aren't even in the book. So, we had the freedom of working with these characters as we wanted - and, yeah, the Polar story has way more to give. He [Silva] actually wrote five books, and there's a lot more stories in there; and the characters are great, so why not?"

While Åkerlund seems enthusiastic about returning for a sequel, the same can evidently be said for Mikkelsen as well. Though he didn't read the Polar books until he got the role, Mikkelsen used to be a "huge graphic novel collector." Before the world of comics and graphic novels became a mainstream medium, Mikkelsen collected his fair share roughly 20 years ago.

Though Åkerlund didn't specify what parts of the story he'd want to cover in potential live-action sequels, the plot of the graphic novel's sequel, Polar: An Eye for an Eye, is a clear extension of the film's cliffhanger ending. In fact, without spoiling the film's ending, the events of Polar serve as a perfect origin story for a potential franchise, satisfying one character arc in particular that would no doubt be deeply satisfying for fans. Whether or not audiences ultimately get to see it on film, however, remains to be seen.

[Shingster]

Hasn't the first film garnered some pretty scathing reviews and reactions from viewers? I've not heard much about it tbh, but it's all been astoundingly negative.

This thread is in the wrong forum BTW Canada. This is a forum for TV shows, not TV films. All film discussion goes in the Movies forum.

[lionel74]

I’ve got a petty high tolerance level for crap ‘so bad it’s good’ movies and will give most things 30 mins of my time before deciding whether to bail out but I only lasted 10 mins with Polar.

I love Mads Mikkelsen but for me this was unwatchable and I didn’t really want to associate him with this rubbish so it was an easy turn off for me.

[phobicsquirrel]

I liked this one of the few netflix films I think was good. I'm down for a sequel.