Ridley Scott says Robin Hood may get a sequel

In an interview with The Times Robin Hood director Ridley Scott spoke about the film alongside Russell Crowe. They touch upon one of the original drafts of the script when the film was called Nottingham with Robin Hood as the villain and the sheriff as a well-meaning public servant. Crowe said “it kind of read like CSI: Sherwood Forest” to him, and they decided to delay production to work on the script.

One interesting section that’s worth a mention is when Ridley Scott talks about the film as an origins story, and that there may be potential for a sequel.

Theirs is an origins tale (think Batman Begins), carrying Robin up until the point that he is outlawed. “It is the beginnings of how the man becomes known as Robin the Hood,” explains Scott. “You don’t really get that until the last few minutes. When you realise that ‘Ah, this is who he is’.” Scott smiles. “Let’s say we might presume there’s a sequel.” (Again, think Batman Begins, which launched a monster franchise). “Honestly, I thought why not have the potential for a sequel, particularly if it is a genre that you absolutely love and has never been fully explored? If there were to be a sequel to Robin Hood, you would have a constant enemy throughout, King John, and you would follow his reign of 17 years, and the signing of Magna Carta could be Robin’s final act.”

I don’t recall there ever being a follow-up to any recent historical epic, so a Robin Hood trilogy could be interesting (if the first film delivers the goods that is).

Robin Hood will be released on May 14th so we’ll find out if Scott’s ideas for a sequel could become a reality. Although Iron Man 2 will be released a week before Hood and could eat into its box office takings slightly, so we’ll have to wait and see.