Hollywood icon Morgan Freeman is in advanced negotiations regarding a Lucy spinoff series.
As reported by Variety, Freeman will reportedly reprise his role as Professor Norman who will reportedly be the focus of the show. It's currently unknown whether Scarlett Johansson, who starred as the titular character in the 2014 action sci-fi film Lucy, will return. In terms of the spinoff's plot, no details have been confirmed but EuropaCorp and Village Roadshow will be working in tandem to produce the project. A director and writer have yet to be hired but fans of the film can expect more updates in the coming months.
Lucy tells the story of a young woman whose boyfriend tricks her into delivering an illicit drug, culminating in her kidnapping. After her captors surgically implant a chemical package within her, some of the substance is absorbed into her bloodstream, granting her telepathic and telekinetic abilities. On the run from a drug lord and his outfit, she eventually comes into contact with Professor Norman, who advises her on her newfound powers, speculating that Lucy is slowly unlocking 100% of her brain capacity.
Will Lucy Return?
Directed by Luc Besson, Lucy went on to rake in $460 million around the world, resulting in it setting the record for the highest-grossing French-produced movie of all time. The film received generally positive reviews from critics, many of whom praised Johannson's charming character and personality that adequately made up for the plot holes and story leaps.
In the run-up to the movie's launch, Besson was adamant that Lucy would appeal to superhero fans due to the character's reluctant hero arc. "She's an average girl, and suddenly, these powers fall in her lap that she's going to have access to 15% of her brain capacity, then 20, then 30 -- and she cannot stop it. It's like dominoes: when you start, you go to 100%," Besson said.
It's currently unknown whether Freeman's Lucy spinoff will also serve as a sequel of sorts given that EuropaCorp has been pushing for a follow-up for several years. In 2017, during a shareholder meeting, the studio noted that after a string of failed projects, including Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, it would begin to focus on avenues that previously proved successful. One provided example was a sequel to Lucy; at the time, Besson was confirmed to have already handed in an early draft of the script. Despite this, the project never entered active production.
The Lucy spinoff series does not yet have a release date.
Source: Variety