47 Ronin Sequel Gets Official Title and Reveals Remaining Cast

47 Ronin Sequel Gets Official Title and Reveals Remaining Cast

The highly anticipated 47 Ronin sequel has wrapped production in Hungary and with that Universal has released the title of the film along with the cast for the revamped film series. The film will be titled Blade of the 47 Ronin and will bring a fresh new cast for the film set in present-day Budapest. Five Samurai clans will gather as some of the leadership brings three Onna Bugeisha or “women warriors.”

The film’s cast will include Anna Akana, Teresa Ting, Mike Moh, Dustin Nguyen, Chris Pang, Fukuyama Chikako, and Mark Dacascos for the sequel. Also joining the already star-studded cast is Luna Fujimoto, Koieyama Akira, and Nino Furuhata. Akira was also featured in the original film that starred Keanu Reeves.

The ensemble cast will be working with Ron Yuan who is helming the film working off a script that was written by the writing duo of AJ Mendez and Aimee Garcia. Tim Kwok who will serve as producer. Yuan previously spoke with Variety about the criticism the previous film received saying:

“We need people who know the genres, people that know the history, people that can understand how to bring these stories, make it fresh and pop off the screen. Not like those old TV shows where every time there’s an Asian theme, or an Asian character, you hear the gong going ‘ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding dang’. None of that shit anymore.”

As has been the case for many films and projects around the entertainment industry, the 47 Ronin sequel was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and moved it’s production from Thailand where it was originally set to shoot. After shooting in Hungary to accommodate for the pandemic, Kwok talked about how this benefited the film giving it a more modern feel, saying:

“This is a female-driven story, with our main group of heroes — Luna, Onami, Aya and Mai — fighting alongside Reo, who is a male Ronin (exiled Samurai), for the fulfilment of the prophecy. They are also fighting against ingrained prejudices of the other clans about female warriors. The story of strong females fighting against societal pressures and expectations is really timely.”

It sounds like the team and cast are looking to give the film franchise a modern upgrade and with the talent both on and off screen, I imagine this is the formula for a hell of an entry into the genre. With production having wrapped, we are going to have our fingers crossed for a look at the upcoming film. Stay tuned for more updates.

Source: Variety