'Extraction 2' officially in the works at Netflix with Joe Russo writing the script

Hot on the heels of Extraction becoming one of Netflix's most most-watched films ever, Joe Russo is set to pen its sequel.

The Avengers director - who also penned the first movie - is said to be 'optimistic' that Chris Hemsworth will be back as mercenary Tyler Rake and that Sam Hargrave, stunt coordinator on Endgame and Captain America: Civil War, will direct once again.

“The deal is closed for me to write Extraction 2, and we are in the formative stages of what the story can be,” Russo told Deadline.

“We’re not committing yet to whether that story goes forward, or backward in time. We left a big loose ending that leaves question marks for the audience.”

He went on: “There was always a simple drive to the story, a balletic execution of action where you take a damaged character who made an egregious mistake in the past and has a shot at redemption which might be fatal.

Read more: Hemsworth shares extreme autograph story

“What was key is that we needed a muscular action director like Sam to be the main creative force in the execution of the action.”

It emerged over the weekend that the movie has received a staggering amount of views on Netflix.

The streamer says that it's been viewed by 90 million households in its first four weeks on release, meaning it's topped previous title holder Bird Box, the post-apocalyptic Sandra Bullock thriller which scored 80 million views last year.

Extraction follows Hemsworth's former Australian SAS operative turned mercenary, who is tasked with recovering the kidnapped son of a drug lord in Bangladesh.