Director Adam Wingard clarifies his new Face/Off movie is a direct sequel to the original film and not a reboot. Back in 1997, Nicolas Cage and John Travolta teamed up for John Woo's latest action film. Face/Off follows Travolta as an FBI agent named Sean Archer who has his face swapped with a terrorist named Castor Troy, played by Cage, in order to obtain information about a bomb's location. The movie's plot includes Castor Troy then taking on Sean Archer's appearance to try to stop him.
Face/Off's premise and the memorable (and meme-able) performances from Cage and Travolta have kept the film in the pop culture zeitgeist for the last few decades. As with any successful film that has become a recognizable piece of IP, this has led to discussions about a new Face/Off movie. It was recently reported that Godzilla vs. Kong director Adam Wingard is developing a Face/Off reboot. This news was met with a mixed reaction online as many fans of the original don't want to see a different take with a new set of actors and storylines.
In a somewhat surprising update to the recent Face/Off story, the director has clarified that he isn't rebooting the Cage-Travolta classic. Instead, Adam Wingard confirmed on his Instagram that he and Simon Barrett are developing a direct sequel to the hit film. He didn't provide any other information on what that means for Face/Off's story or cast, but he seems pretty happy about the news overall.
With Wingard's Face/Off movie described as a direct sequel to the original, this immediately will spark speculation about whether or not Cage and Travolta are returning. The movie could be a sequel to Face/Off in the sense that it exists in the same world and could reference the swap between Archer and Troy, but that would still make it more of a reboot than a continuation of the original. If this Face/Off sequel is truly a direct sequel, that very well might mean that Cage and Travolta will return after all.
Doing a direct sequel to Face/Off and bringing back both stars will be a challenge, though. The original film ends with Castor Troy being shot by a spear gun and presumably dying. This should rule Cage out from returning for the sequel, unless the new Face/Off plans to retcon the original ending and say Troy survived. That isn't necessary if Wingard and Barrett's idea just revolves around the continuation of Archer's story. He made it out of the first film alive, is reunited with his family, and adopts a young boy. With Wingard clarifying his Face/Off is a sequel and not a reboot, hopefully it won't be too long before some more questions about the film are answered.
Source: Adam Wingard