Writer and director Drew Goddard talks about how X-Force will pick up from the events of Deadpool 2. The 43-year-old filmmaker, who is tasked with crafting the story that David Leitch’s Deadpool sequel started, opens up about how his spinoff project will do just that even though most of the heroes who are supposedly part of the team are now dead.

Specific plot details for the X-Force movie are scarce at the moment. Given how clear-cut the ending of Deadpool 2 was, Goddard can come up with almost anything for X-Force. While fans won’t hear anything specific about the film just yet considering it’s still going to be a few months before production starts, the filmmaker teased what people can expect from his movie.

Speaking with EW following Deadpool 2’s release, the filmmaker shared that he didn’t want the sequel to plant plot seeds that would need to be paid off in X-Force. Further, he was even supportive of Deadpool 2 killing Bedlam (Terry Crews), Shatterstar (Lewis Tan), Vanisher (Brad Pitt), and Zeitgeist (Bill Skarsgard), even though it presented him with storytelling problems considering  the aforementioned characters were tipped to be part of the headlining heroes for the forthcoming offshoot.

When asked how exactly he’s planning to tackle X-Force with technically only three members, Goddard got a little bit cagey. But he shared that however he decides to approach the film, it will be heavily influenced by the comics.

“To be honest, I think that’s why it excited me so much. I remember reading that scene and just cackling with delight, specifically because it was the very last thing you’d expect to happen in one of these movies. These movies are so careful to set up the next thing and the next thing, and it made me so happy.

“One thing I said to Ryan [Reynolds] was, ‘Don’t worry about it, we’ll come up with new ideas; you guys go make your movie, and do your thing. We’ll figure it out.’ That tends to be the way I like to work. It’s much more important to focus on making the movie that you’re making than focusing on the next thing. It’s much more important to just make one good movie and take your time, then let that dictate what the movies are after.”

While X-Force has been a favorite topic of conversation lately thanks to the initial set-up in Deadpool 2, it’s important to take note that Fox hasn’t confirmed a release date for the film just yet. A previous report claimed the film will start principal photography later this fall with Reynolds, Brolin, and Beetz all expected to reprise their respective roles, but the fate of the spinoff is still in limbo considering the in-process Disney and Fox deal. If the deal pushes through, the rights to the X-Men, Fantastic Four, and Deadpool will return to Marvel Studios. And with Kevin Feige tightlipped about their plans involving the extensive list of characters that they can soon use in the MCU, it’s difficult to gauge what will happen to the Deadpool franchise.

“It really all stems from a place of love; I love those comics, I love Ryan, I love Josh, and I love Zazie Beetz. When I think of the comics, I think of Cable and Domino and Deadpool, and it’s really just knowing, ‘Oh, right, there’s a world in the X-Universe for the blunt instruments of mutantdom.’ It’s much more about the characters and my love for them than it is about any plot or story line. It’s more about loving them and wanting to see them bounce off each other."

If anything, Disney CEO Bob Iger’s past comments about wanting to continue making Deadpool sequels should quell fans’ worries that the House of Mouse will scrap the popular superhero film series. Looking at it from a business standpoint, it would be a bad move for the company to pull the plug on a perfectly working franchise considering its potential to be a major source of income.

MORE: Every X-Force Movie Update You Need To Know

Source: EW

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