The Boondock Saints are in talks to come back for a third movie reuniting The Walking Dead’s Norman Reedus with Sean Patrick Flanery. Boondocks Saints III continues the saga of the vigilante fraternal twin Irish brothers Connor and Murphy MacManus. It all started when they killed two Russian mobsters in self defense, then awaken themselves to cleaning up Boston of all crime.
Impossible Dream Entertainment partners Shaun Redick (Get Out, BlacKkKlansman) and Yvette Yates Redick to produce Boondock Saints III with Don Carmody (Good Will Hunting) and Duffy. Redick penned the script with Flannery with a lot of input from The Walking Dead’s Norman Reedus and Duffy.
Deadline had the chance to speak to the writers and producers of the upcoming film.
“The fans have loved these characters for 20 years,” Duffy said. “They use terms of endearment like ‘the Brothers’ or ‘the Boys.’ We left them in jail at the end of Boondock 2 and fans want to know what happened to them. Norman and Sean have been a driving force to keep this franchise on track and break some new ground story-wise. The fans have been waiting. They literally ask about it daily, and I am really excited to be working with Impossible Dream to make Boondock III a reality.”
The long-time cult following of Boondock Saints.
“It’s easy to see how this franchise has attracted and maintained its strong cult following all of these years when you dig into the mythology and execution of the storytelling. Troy, Norman and Sean have skillfully architected a killer story that fans will go crazy for, just as Yvette and I have,” Redick said. We love and appreciate that Boondock Saints has such a rabid fan base that is starving for anything and everything that builds on the franchise. We see fans tattoo the characters, sayings, and prayer on their bodies, they engage in digital and social media, and they travel enormous distances to meet and engage with the creators and stars of the films and comics. All this makes us excited to get to work with the team and deliver something distinct and special.”
“Regardless of whether or not someone has seen the first two films, Saints III will blow them away. Moreover, this is a proud comeback moment for Troy — a storyteller who has demonstrated humility and resilience in the face of adversity and emerged more focused and determined than ever to continue the Boondock Saints story. We’re proud to back him and his authentic vision for this franchise,” Yvette Yates Redick added.
The Goal is to be like the John Wick Franchise
The goal for Boondock Saints is to have a John Wick-type global franchise. It continues to have a strong following, but it hasn’t been easy as the original movie hit a lot of speed bumps.
“You never know which films are going to hit, or what kind of special you got that makes for something people will gravitate toward,” Duffy told Deadline. “Nobody knows. The closest we got to someone knowing what happened when we were having the first screenings for Boondock Saints, at the Sony lot, Paramount lot, Fox lot, and it was right after the Columbine incident. Columbine shut us down. They were pulling back on everything violent, especially with youthful violence, even ones that featured trench coats [which the Columbine killers wore]. We got caught right in the middle of that, distraught because everyone had worked so hard. We didn’t have anything to do with this tragic thing that happened in Colorado, and we felt, there is real life and there are movies, what is going on? A buyer told us. Hey, you guys have been blacklisted. Nobody is buying your movie to release in theaters right now. And then something prophetic. It was Billy Connolly who came walking out of the theater, and he was like [mimicking Connolly’s Scottish brogue], ‘Fuck it! The kids will find it! It’s rock and roll.’ He was the only one who was like, it doesn’t matter. This is too good, it’s going places. All of us didn’t know, except Billy.”
“I’ve seen people with perfect projects that just sail through all the processes and turn into terrible films,” Duffy continued. “And then ones that are super difficult, nothing but stress and horror from the first second, and they make great ones. Films like Precious, where everybody comes down and sacrifices so much, and their paychecks go out the window and they don’t care. Those ones are magic. You see so much in this business, you never know what’s going to hit, but we did, and why change the sausage now? So here comes three.”
It wasn’t an easy road for Boondock Saints III
As for Boondock Saints III, it too had its ups and downs. In 2017, Flanery tweeted that he and Norman Reedus were no longer involved in the third Saints film due to disagreements. And perhaps Norman Reedus conflicting schedule with The Walking Dead. Flanery was in many ways the main cog in getting the current draft done. Whatever the differences he and Reedus had have been squashed. The upcoming third film will pick up after the events of Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day.
“Where we’re going is, the brothers are older,” Duffy said. “They are coming out into a brand new world that is not like the one they left. They are at odds. One wants to continue, the other doesn’t. There’s a new enemy out there, not like the traditional ones they’ve faced. That’s the thing that is timely about this one. I asked the fan based once, who would you most like to see Connor and Murphy kill? There were like 4500 answers, and some were Biblical; people just don’t give you one word answers. The number one answer was, politicians. I wrote a scene right now where one of them says, are you f*cking kidding? You can’t kill a politician and the other saying, are you kidding me? They’re the ones doing it. It turns out one guy is doing it much worse than everyone else. Without getting too deep into the story, what it is is, two boys coming out of prison after staying there much longer than expected, to a brand new world. They’re at odds on whether to push forward. But the type of people we face today in our society, is unlike any we’ve faced before. And that brings them together and they say, we cannot turn our backs on this.”
“Since I hooked up with Red and Yvette, they’ve proven to be some of the best in the business,” he said. “Boondock has always had a hard independent road. You’d try to get the best people in the area you’re shooting in, and there are things you just can’t believe that happen on an independent film set where you have to make a decision, get that footage and move on and not cry about it. Rob Peter to pay Paul, move, move, move 100 mph and you’re lucky if you get a salient story at the end of it. One of the things I’ve never had is the comfort of enough days, and the comfort of working with top people. I’ve got stunt work, gun work here, that deserve the attention and care paid by that franchise. One of the things that is really cool for me now is jumping in the pool with these guys who’ll say, you know what? Here’s what we can do.”
There is no set release date for Boondock Saints III. At least loyal fans to the franchise can look forward to more of the MacManus twins. As for Norman Reedus, The Walking Dead is in its eleventh and final season.
