Vin Diesel has taken to Instagram to provide fans with another update regarding progress on the upcoming Riddick 4. Diesel first made his debut as the violent sci-fi antihero Riddick in 2000’s Pitch Black, created by Ken and Jim Wheat and directed by David Twohy. Following the success of the first film, Twohy would go on to pen and direct two more live-action sequels, 2004’s The Chronicles of Riddick and 2013’s more simply titled Riddick.
Discussions relating to a fourth entry in the franchise have been doing the round as early as 2014 when Diesel first announced that Universal Studios was interested in continuing the franchise following the strong home DVD sales of the third film. Since then, updates on the project, which was originally anticipated to begin production back in 2017, have been sporadic at best. Though in 2019, Diesel announced that he had received the completed script for the fourth film dubbed Furya, after the character’s decimated homeworld. Then this September, the actor also took to Instagram to suggest that filming “may be closer than your think.”
More recently, Diesel has shared a candid, late-night workout video to Instagram, where he continues to hype up anticipation for the film. Throughout the clip, he says, “For all of you out there that have been asking about Riddick, today was another great day. Thank you Universal for always believing in that IP. I’m very excited about it, hope you guys are too.” Check out the original video below:
While plans for Furya have admittedly been somewhat stagnated over the past few years, as Diesel’s attention was more firmly fixed on his long-running Fast and the Furious franchise, it is good news for Riddick fans that things finally seem to be moving ahead. In what had originally begun as a small sci-fi film with a modest budget and luke-warm critical reception, the Riddick franchise has slowly built a cult following among loyal fans desperate to see more of the character. While the character has enjoyed life in other media, including video games, novelizations, and motion comic books, it is now over eight years since he last made his appearance on the big screen.
Of course, the developmental delays that Riddick 4 has experienced are certainly not unheard of in Hollywood circles. Stories of other major projects not making their way beyond early development phases, like Neill Blomkamp’s Alien 5, seem to make their way out into the world almost every other day. Thankfully, however, it looks as though Diesel’s return to the character is inching ever closer to becoming a reality, and Riddick 4 will not be one of the many big-named projects to completely lose steam in the development pipeline. Diesel’s fans will no doubt be hoping for more updates concerning Riddick 4’s ongoing progress and will keep their fingers crossed that a potential release date may not be too far off.
Source: Vin Diesel