Doug Liman’s Edge of Tomorrow, or Live. Die. Repeat, was one of 2014’s biggest critical and commercial success stories, with many hailing it as one of the sci-fi genre’s greatest flag-bearers in recent times.
And yet, we had to wait for half-a-decade on any confirmation about a potential sequel. It is supposedly titled Live. Die. Repeat and Repeat, the franchise’s second installment was stuck in limbo for almost four years before 2018 due to scheduling conflicts for both, cast and crew.
But, recently, reports suggested that Warner Bros. has green-lit a developmental script by Matthew Robinson, writer-director of 2009’s The Invention of Lying starring Ricky Gervais, and that the studio has entered negotiations with Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt to reprise their roles, although both actors’ involvement is contingent upon the quality of the film’s final draft.
Blunt herself has talked about the project numerous times since the first film, going as far as to say in 2018 that she’d been approached to shoot the sequel later that summer. Only for her to decline due prior commitments with Disney’s Mary Poppins Returns, and claiming that ‘a lot of stars’ would need to align for it to start production anytime soon.
Warner Bros. had hired Christopher McQuarrie, writer of the first film, to work on a script, although a pitch by Robinson to come up with a story that would serve as, both, a sequel and prequel to the 2014 release made them change their minds.
Edge of Tomorrow was based on Hiroshi Sakurazaka’s 2004 light-novel All You Need Is Kill, and grossed $370 million at the global box-office, a number many industry analysts argued could’ve been even higher had the film not been released with two separate titles in different markets given its overwhelming critical response.
It remains unclear whether Live. Die. Repeat and Repeat will derive any inspiration whatsoever from the Sakurazaka’s original source material, though the returns of director Liman with actors Cruise and Blunt seems inevitable given their interest in the sequel over a sustained period of time.
According to industry rumors, the film could begin shooting later this year and release sometime in Fall 2020.
