Fourth Riddick Film & TV Spin-Off In The Works, Says Vin Diesel

On the off chance that Vin Diesel didn’t seem busy enough keeping his signature franchises alive. the gravel-throated superstar has revealed plans for another sequel to another of his hits.

Taking to Instagram - the same platform he chose to announce plans for a third ‘XXX’ movie, reportedly set to start shooting in December - Diesel told followers that the ball is about to get rolling on a fourth ‘Riddick’ movie - as well as a spin-off TV series.

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Posting a photo of himself alongside Judi Dench in 2004′s ‘The Chronicles of Riddick,’ Diesel told his Instagram followers, “Last night Our company had a party to launch Our TV division. Very exciting. MERC CITY is a show that will follow the Mercs and Bounty Hunters of the Riddick Universe.

“Next Month, DT [David Twohy] begins writing the next Chapter in the Chronicles of Riddick… FURIA.”

You have to admire Diesel’s tenacity, given the somewhat chequered history of the Riddick series.

The intergalactic anti-hero with night vision eyes was introduced in 2000′s ‘Pitch Black,’ a mid-budget sci-fi creature feature from writer-director David Twohy, which proved an unexpectedly big hit, and gave Diesel his breakthrough role.

However, when Diesel and Twohy reunited on ‘The Chronicles of Riddick,’ an ambitious space opera which vastly upped the scale (and budget) but significantly toned down the violence for a PG-13 rating, audience reactions were mixed at best, and the film proved a box office disappointment.

Afterward, a third film in the series proved very hard for Diesel and Twohy to get off the ground. (Fun fact - Diesel agreed to his cameo at the end of ‘The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift’ in exchange for the rights to the Riddick series.)

Ultimately third film ‘Riddick’ was produced independently, Diesel taking a significant pay cut to help financing, and ‘Riddick’ was finally released in 2013 to fairly positive reviews and reasonable box office success, thanks to its return to the smaller scale and R-rating of ‘Pitch Black.’

As to what we should expect from fourth film ‘Furia’ - obviously it’s hard to say, although we would have to wonder if Diesel’s choice of a ‘Chronicles of Riddick’ image to announce the film implies a return to that more operatic scale.

All we can say is that the title refers to Riddick’s home planet, which once housed a mighty warrior race of Furyans of which Riddick is said to be the last survivor. But if this fourth film sees him go back there, does this mean he definitely is the last of his kind…?

No indication has been given yet as to when we can expect to see this next Riddick movie, but in the meantime the year ahead will see Diesel kept busy reprising Xander Cage for the first time in the third ‘XXX,’ as well as playing Dominic Torretto for the seventh time in ‘Furious 8.’

On top of which, we’d wager he’ll be saying “I Am Groot” a few more times in ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2,’ also going into production in 2016.

Picture Credit: Universal