‘Lucy’ Director Luc Besson Changes His Mind, Decides to Make a Sequel

Lucy was perhaps the biggest surprise hit of 2014. Luc Besson’s action-packed and totally bonkers sci-fi film starring reigning queen of sci-fi Scarlett Johansson was actually pretty delightful, but the ending didn’t really leave the door open for a sequel. Given that studios tend to let box office dictate the necessity of a sequel, Lucy 2 seemed inevitable, but Besson himself dismissed the idea and the world moved on — except now he’s changed his mind.

At CineEurope 2015 (via THR), Besson’s production house EuropaCorp gave a presentation highlighting their upcoming offerings, including the Naomi Watts thriller Shut In, the new Transporter film featuring former Game of Thrones star Ed Skrein, and the ambitious sci-fi film Valerian, starring Cara Delevingne and Dane DeHaan.

At the bottom of THR’s report is a small mention of EuropaCorp’s announcement that they’re currently developing a Lucy sequel. That’s all the information there is for now, but it does contradict Besson’s statements last year — the director previously said he had no idea how a sequel would be possible, adding that the first film wasn’t made to build a franchise. However, Besson also said that if he found a story that was good enough, he’d consider it.

Given Lucy’s massive worldwide box office take and the star power of Scarlett Johansson, it’s easy to see how Besson could be persuaded to come up with an idea good enough for Lucy 2. Obviously, the sequel largely depends on Johansson’s willingness to return, so let’s hope that what Besson wrote is good enough for her.