When Vin Diesel wants a movie to happen, generally he gets exactly what he wants. Through sheer force of will and the power of his huge fan base, Diesel was able to keep his Pitch Black franchise going with the surprisingly successful Riddick, and he helped shepherd The Last Witch Hunter into fruition, as well. Another franchise flick he's been trying to jumpstart for years is XXX, the high-octane James Bond wannabe that he helped launch in 2002. Now Diesel has taken to Instagram to announce that a third film is on the way, and even has a start date.
XXX starred Diesel as Xander Cage, an extreme sports junkie who was recruited to become a secret agent. The film was a hit, scoring $277M and established Diesel as a blockbuster star. Due to Diesel being busy on The Pacifier, he was replaced by Ice Cube in the 2004 sequel, XXX: State of the Union, which turned out to be a flop. Diesel's Cage character was revealed to have been brutally murdered in the XXX director's cut. Obviously, since the new film is titled XXX: The Return of Xander Cage, his death didn't stick or will be completely ignored.
Of course, that hasn't stopped rumors of a return, and now it looks like Diesel is ready to move forward on it. He had teased the project last year, teasing Katy Perry as his new "X Girl", but nothing had really been heard about it since. It remains to be seen if Samuel L. Jackson can be convinced to reprise his role as XXX's NSA handler, Augustus Gibbons.
