Ryan Gosling's Special Ops Thriller 'The Gray Man' Set for Sequel and Spin-Off at Netflix

Netflix's "The Gray Man" shot to #1 in 92 countries around the globe when released on the streamer last weekend, and the service hasn't hesitated to announce a sequel and a spinoff movie.

Based on the series of bestselling novels by Mark Greaney, "The Gray Man" series follows Court Gentry (aka "Six"), a lethal freelance operative trained by the CIA who regularly bumps heads with his military-trained team members. Later books in the series dig deep into Gentry's back story and secret CIA missions, so fans of door-kicker, tip-of-the-spear action should see much more of that action in future films.

When word came out at San Diego Comic Con last Saturday that directors Joe and Anthony Russo would not be returning to Marvel to direct the upcoming "Avengers" movies, fans should have realized that they were committed to their expanding relationship with Netflix. They're set to direct the sequel, and "The Gray Man" co-writer Stephen McFeely will pen the screenplay.

If the movie follows the plot of Greaney's second novel in the series, Six will be forced to work with the CIA handlers who betrayed him to kidnap a world leader who's carrying out genocide on his own people.

There's also going to be a spin-off movie written by "Deadpool" screenwriters Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese. Netflix offered no details with the announcement, but here's hoping that it focuses on Ana de Armas' Dani Miranda, a character created for the movie that didn't exist in the novel. De Armas has shown fantastic action chops in "The Gray Man" and during her too-brief appearance in the most recent James Bond movie, "No Time to Die."

Another option would be a movie that told the backstory of Lloyd Hansen, the private security operative that takes on Gentry in "The Gray Man." Chris Evans had a blast playing the oily and entitled spy, and the movie's fans would surely like to see more of his character.

Also coming up from Netflix and the Russos' AGBO company is the sequel to "Extraction," the outstanding 2020 spec ops movie starring Chris Hemsworth. Former stuntman Sam Hargrave is back to direct the sequel, and Joe Russo has again written the screenplay.

Audiences love "The Gray Man," giving it a 91% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The movie represents a strong bounceback for the Russo brothers after their disappointing military drama, "Cherry," which streamed last year on Apple TV+.

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