It is no secret that video game based movies have struggled to become popular or even maintain a decent level of quality. 2016 was supposed to be a year that could turn that around with Assassin's Creed and Warcraft scheduled to debut. Despite being based on some of the more popular games in recent memory, both films followed suit and were critically-maligned, leaving little desire from audiences to check them out. Despite Warcraft's lackluster performance domestically, it received a big boost in the overseas markets. This lead to rumors of a potential Warcraft 2 skipping a domestic release altogether and focusing on pleasing the markets that supported the first movie.
One of the big complaints that audiences had with the first film was the sheer amount of characters, location, and lore that were squished together to fit within a shorter run time than director Duncan Jones was hoping for - with Jones having a director's cut running an additional 40 minutes. However, that has not deterred his interest in making a sequel and he has since began revealing some of his ambitious ideas online.
Jones engaged with a fan on Twitter about the ideas that he has thought to implement in a sequel, should it ever happen. After reading the long conversation (see below), it is clear that Jones is very passionate about this project and has no shortage of ideas to bring to another Warcraft installment.
@Jow3h Would have been in film 2, if it were to happen.— Duncan Jones (@ManMadeMoon) January 2, 2017
@Jow3h With the orcs now in Azeroth, they learn about armor making in this new world.— Duncan Jones (@ManMadeMoon) January 2, 2017
@Jow3h Also would have seen Dalaran LAND in the Alterac mountains & magic proliferate as Kirin Tor try to be more open after death of Llane.— Duncan Jones (@ManMadeMoon) January 2, 2017
@Jow3h Main orc focus would have been Go'el's imprisonment & violent bid for freedom.— Duncan Jones (@ManMadeMoon) January 2, 2017
@DreamwolfKima @Jow3h Don't want to give too much away, as who knows... but Khadgar unleashing Pandora's Box, Lothar arc, Varian.— Duncan Jones (@ManMadeMoon) January 2, 2017
In the aftermath of Warcraft's performance and reception, Jones has had mixed feelings about the process of the first film. He previously acknowledged that the film was nowhere near as great as he had imagined because he couldn't include everything from the Warcraft games that he wanted to. In the same interview, he said that a sequel should be better now that the first Warcraft movie has laid the groundwork for the franchise.
Based on this conversation alone, Jones is sticking true to that sentiment by having a great number of story ideas already in the works. Seeing the orcs evolve as an army, the arial city of Dalaran fall out of the sky, and further developing the stories of Lothar (Travis Fimmel) and Go'El, the son of Durotan (Toby Kebbell), all are potentially big and rich plot threads for a Warcraft sequel to explore.
However, this also sounds a lot like the first film with multiple protagonists and stories happening all at once. Hopefully, these ideas are for multiple films and not just one more. This would make more sense as Jones later said in the thread, "You have to focus. Trying to serve too many threads is exactly the problem that got us in this position." Now, fans of the Warcraft games and those that are interested to see another live-action film will have to wait and see if any of this makes it onto the big screen in the future.
Warcraft 2 is not actively being developed and has no set release date.
Source: Duncan Jones