Following 2014’s Kingsman: The Secret Service and 2017’s follow-up Kingsman: The Golden Circle, director Matthew Vaughn is about to take his spy saga into a whole new era. With upcoming prequel The King’s Man, the third instalment in the series will explore the origins of the espionage agency against the backdrop of World War I, leaving Harry Hart and Eggsy behind (for now) and introducing a whole different generation of heroes: Ralph Fiennes’ Oxford, Harris Dickinson as his son Conrad, Djimon Hounsou’s Butler Shola, and Gemma Arterton’s Polly. Take a look at them in brand new exclusive images, as seen in Empire’s upcoming Ultimate Movie Playlist issue.
While The King’s Man will delve into the history of the series – set roughly a century before the previous films, and taking in real-life figures and events including Rasputin and the assassination of Franz Ferdinand – it also sets up more of the franchise’s future. “We’ve put seeds for what’s going to happen in Kingsman 3 all the way back into this,” confirms Vaughn. “And it’s going to be very different.” After initially planning to hand the third Harry Hart-Eggsy adventure off to another director, Vaughn is now considering helming that next instalment himself. “I actually don’t know what I want to do,” he says. “There is an opportunity for a director to really change it up, but I’m considering it.”
Elsewhere, the future of the series might include an alternative version of The King’s Man itself – Vaughn teasing a longer edition including some of the ruder gags that the series has long been known for, but that have been excised in the prequel’s theatrical cut, indicative of a new tone for this outing. “I’ve cut so much out of this film that there’s going to be a 40-minute longer version,” he reveals. “I’ll do “The King’s Man Vaughn Cut’. I’ve got a few really dirty fucking jokes in there.”
Read Empire’s full The King’s Man story – exploring how the series is completely reinventing itself – in the new issue, on sale Thursday 6 August. The King’s Man is currently expected in UK cinemas on 16 September.