The Accountant 2 Is In Development With Ben Affleck Returning

The Accountant is reportedly getting a sequel, with Ben Affleck reprising his role as the mathematical savant-turned-fugitive. The 2016 action cliff-hanger was directed by Gavin O’Connor and also starred Anna Kendrick, J.K. Simmons, Jon Bernthal, and John Lithgow. The plot involves the story of Christian Wolff (Affleck), a certified public accountant with autism who works on the summaries of international terrorist groups that are encountering inner embezzlement. While working on a legal client, Wolff unravels something from his past.

While it earned mixed reviews during its release, The Accountant was a box office success and grossed $155 million worldwide. The movie was praised for its thrilling fight events and Affleck’s commitment to the role. At the time, there were talks of making the story into a film franchise, and later the likelihood of creating the sequel as a TV series. However, plans seemed to have been scrapped as no substantial updates on the film’s perspective were given over the next five years.

Now, O’Connor has declared openly on CinemaBlend’s ReelBlend podcast that The Accountant 2 is happening and that Affleck is confirmed to have enlisted to reprise his role. According to the director, he “literally just closed the deal.” O’Connor also shared that the sequel’s plot will focus on Jon Bernthal’s character, who was indicted in the film to be Affleck’s long-lost brother. What’s more, the filmmaker also implied a third movie, which will be a “buddy picture” between Affleck and Bernthal. Read O’Connor’s comments below:

“So, I’ve always wanted to do three because what, the second one’s going to be more with — we’re going to incorporate his brother into the story. So there’ll be more screen time for Bernthal in the second one. And then the third movie is getting on to be, I call it, ‘Rain Man on steroids.’ The third movie is getting on to be [about] the two brothers, this odd couple. The third one is going to be a buddy picture.”

BEN AFFLECK IN THE ACCOUNTANT

The downside to getting the green light for The Accountant 2 is that O’Connor will not be able to do a sequel for another Affleck-led film, The Way Back. The 2020 sports theatre reunited the Oscar-winner and the Accountant director, producing a binding film about redemption. While it earned praise from analysts, the film was conducted badly at the box office, largely due to its release during the COVID-19 epidemic. According to O’Connor, a sequel to The Way Back will not push through as he will instead be concentrating on The Accountant 2.

While news of The Accountant part two is really exciting for fans of the movie, it is unclear when the series will hit the huge screen. Given the pandemic-related hesitations that all film productions are encountering, it may be a while before the project becomes a reality. One viable option is to release the sequel and the possible third instalment on a streaming platform to give it a better opportunity at reaching a wider audience, as many other studios have chosen to do during the COVID-19 era. Given the public’s interest in hard-hitting action sagas such as Liam Neeson’s Taken and Keanu Reeves’ John Wick, The Accountant 2 has a good opportunity at becoming another hit. As Affleck is rumored to don his Batman cape in The Flash, the award-winning actor will hopefully find better success at playing a flawed action hero this time over.