The creative shorthand between director Ric Roman Waugh and Gerard Butler has become one of the most reliable partnerships in modern action cinema. Waugh, who affectionately refers to the actor as “Jerry,” has now directed the rugged star in four distinct projects. Their journey began with Angel Has Fallen—the third chapter in the Mike Banning saga—before expanding into the high-stakes espionage of Kandahar and the grounded catastrophe of Greenland and its upcoming sequel, Greenland: Migration.
With the latter hitting screens on January 9, speculation regarding the future of their collaboration is reaching a fever pitch. Rumors have persisted for years about a potential fourth Fallen entry titled Night Has Fallen. However, in a recent conversation with Waugh, the director offered a nuanced perspective on where Agent Mike Banning actually stands.
“We would be up for it, but — and I know I speak for Jerry as well — we’re not interested in just doing another sequel,” Waugh explained. “We’d really have to figure out what would make it fly as a new version, that it would evolve the Mike Banning character and so forth. I mean, I don’t know, maybe we do the Lethal Weapon version. We have 87-year-old Morgan Freeman go toe-to-toe with Mike Banning. That’d be fun, but no, nothing’s in the works right now. That would be something that would have to be cracked.”
While this might temper the expectations of Olympus Has Fallen devotees, it highlights a refreshing commitment to narrative quality over franchise fatigue. Waugh and Butler seem determined to ensure that if Banning returns, it’s for a story that carries genuine weight rather than just a routine paycheck.
Reflecting on why Butler remains a perennial favorite in an era of CGI-heavy blockbusters, Waugh points to the actor’s rejection of the “invincible hero” trope. In a landscape where stars like Dwayne Johnson famously include “no-loss” clauses in their contracts, Butler leans into his character’s bruises and fallibility.
“He’s not afraid to be vulnerable and play flawed, relatable characters,” Waugh noted. “We’ve gone through a very big comic book stage in movie making where everybody’s 10 feet tall and impervious to pain and bulletproof and no flaws and so forth and very shiny. I don’t think Jerry’s shiny, and I love that about him. He’s very salt of the earth. He’s a big kid at heart. We are not a black and white society. We’re very grey… I think it’s exciting to do that in movies, and Jerry’s all for that.”
Greenland: Migration arrives in theaters on January 9.
Source: Polygon
