Nicolas Winding Refn Making A 'Valhalla Rising' Sequel Set In Tokyo

Although he's been pretty good at taking on a diverse array of projects, Nicolas Winding Refn strikes a palpable masculine tone in each of his films. Bronson, Drive, and Valhalla Rising are all about violent, tough men and the choices they make, and it definitely appears that Only God Forgives will continue with that theme. Refn has referred to the Chang character, known as the Angel of Vengeance, as a reincarnation of Mads Mikkelsen's One-Eye character from Valhalla Rising. How that actually plays out on the screen we won't know for a few weeks, but Refn plans on revisiting One-Eye in an actual Valhalla Rising sequel, only this one would somehow be set in Tokyo.

In a conversation with ThePlaylist, Refn talked about re-teaming with Mikkelsen to complete an unofficial trilogy....

We spoke to Refn on the eve of the North American premiere for Only God Forgives and he revealed that project was a re-teaming with Valhalla Rising star Mads Mikkelsen, saying they had, “talked about revisiting the [One-Eye] character from Valhalla Rising again to kind of complete… because there’s a similarity between Valhalla Rising, Drive and Only God Forgives. But in a way I had this idea of Mads Mikklesen to go back to the origins of this character. But make the movie in Tokyo.”

When pressed on how this could possibly be a sequel, Refn said it would be "About the future....", which suggests that the whole reincarnation idea is very much a thing. Valhalla Rising was set in 1000 AD and followed the Viking warrior One-Eye on a violent Crusade. If Refn and Mikkelsen can find the time to get together for this, it's definitely worth getting excited over. Mikkelsen is due to begin shooting the next season of Hannibal, and Refn has I Walk With the Dead on his list, along with the Barbarella TV series.