Minor SPOILERS for The Gentlemen ahead
Guy Ritchie's latest movie, The Gentlemen, has an awesome Easter egg for his 2015 film The Man From UNCLE, which has earned a dedicated fan following in the years since its release. Ritchie directed and co-wrote The Man From UNCLE, starring Henry Cavill and Armie Hammer as American and Russian spies, respectively, who were forced to team up in order to help protect an asset played by Alicia Vikander. Though The Man From UNCLE reviews were middling-to-positive, the film had a weak box office run, only earning $107 million.
However, the film has since had a resurgence in popularity through streaming and cable, and these fans have been calling for a Man From Uncle sequel for years. In 2017, Hammer revealed a script for The Man From UNCLE 2 was in the works from Ritchie's co-writer Lionel Wigram. That same year, while promoting his film King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, Ritchie did a few interviews in which he was asked about a possible Man From UNCLE sequel, and he expressed his surprise each time that fans were interested in another film considering the lackluster response when the first movie hit theaters. Now, with the release of The Gentlemen, it appears Ritchie has finally accepted The Man From UNCLE has its fans - and he gives them a nod by way of an Easter egg for the his 2015 film.
At the very end of The Gentlemen, private investigator Fletcher (Hugh Grant) is pitching the events of the film as a movie to a studio executive in the Miramax offices. Fletcher imagining the goings on of Mickey Pearson (Matthew McConaughey) as a movie is a throughline of The Gentlemen since, early on, Fletcher presents Mickey's right-hand man Raymond (Charlie Hunnam) with a movie script he wrote. However, when Fletcher is in the Miramax offices, there's a poster for The Man From UNCLE hanging on the wall behind him.
The Man from UNCLE poster hanging in the Miramax offices is a bit odd, as the studio didn't have a hand in producing or distributing the film - though Miramax did produce The Gentlemen. Since Ritchie hasn't worked with Miramax before, including any of his film's movie posters in this scene would've created the same issue. But perhaps the Miramax studio executive is just a big fan of The Man From UNCLE. No matter that it doesn't completely make sense for a Man From UNCLE poster to be hanging in a Miramax office, it's a clear Easter egg for fans of Ritchie's past film.
Until Ritchie explains the Man From UNCLE Easter egg in The Gentlemen, fans are free to speculate on what it means. Perhaps it's simply a nod to all the fans who have been asking him for a sequel in recent years, an acknowledgement that The Man From UNCLE has a more dedicated fan base than he originally knew. Or perhaps it's an indication he's actively working on a sequel. After all, presumably Ritchie could've chosen another of his films' posters to include as an Easter egg, but he chose to include The Man From UNCLE. While that could mean something about a potential sequel, though, that's merely speculation. There haven't been any updates on The Man From UNCLE 2 in a few years so it's unclear whether it will move forward any time soon.
For now, fans of Ritchie's work will no doubt appreciate The Man From UNCLE Easter egg in The Gentlemen, even if they have to continue waiting for (and asking the director) about finally moving forward with The Man From UNCLE 2.
