Matthew Vaughn Says His Interconnected Espionage Universe With ‘Kingsman’ Could Contain “Two Other Spy” Properties

Filmmaker Matthew Vaughn’s spy film, “Argylle,” is in theaters now, and it hasn’t exactly lit up the box office, but we know the director has ambitious plans for the series. He’s already said that he hopes to connect “Argylle” to the world of his other spy series, “Kingsman.” Late last year, he revealed that he has one more spy franchise in the works that could connect all three into one inter-connected spy universe.

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“I just like the challenge of launching new I.P.; it’s harder, but it’s more fun,” Vaughn said last fall about connecting all his spy franchises. “With “Argylle,” we have the book, and we have an “Argylle 2” planned, so there is a universe, and what we’re trying to do with MARV is sort of [what] Marvel [has done] for superheroes, we want to be for spies as well.” But what does that mean exactly? “So we’ve got “Kingsman” [franchise] on the right, we’ve got “Argylle” on the left, and we’ve got an idea for something in the middle, as well,  and you’ve got all these competing franchises in a galaxy that one day might meet.”

But Playlist Managing Editor Charles Barfield recently spoke to Vaughn on The Playlist Podcast for “Aryglle,” and the filmmaker revealed he has two other spy properties in the works that could connect to “Argylle” and “Kingsman that could make for four franchises total.

“I’ve done the Kingsman. Hopefully, we have more ‘Kingsman,’ and we’ve got the world of ‘Argylle,’ and there are two other spy things I’m looking at,” he revealed, adding one more series to the queue.

“So you’re going well; well, Marvel and DC created these universes that are superheroes; why can’t we do it with spies? So that’s part of the plan,” he explained.

Vaughn’s always been very ambitious, and there are no spoilers, but apparently, a post-credit “Argylle” scene hints at all these connections. But with a $200 million dollar price tag and an $18 million U.S. debut, pundits are already describing the “Argylle” box office results as a “bomb,” so this might all be moot.

Now “Argylle” won the box office weekend over all other comers, but this debut is really low for a price tag like this. Additionally, the film received a very poor C+ CinemaScore, which does not bode well for the film’s box office longevity. Vaughn may have all these ambitious plans, but they may be cooked as of today.

In fact, one has to wonder what this means for the future of “Kingsman” too. Vaughn has previously said he owns the rights to the series, and he’s looking for a distributing partner for it with his company MARV, in the same way that Universal was the theatrical distributing partner on “Argylle,” which was made by Apple and MARV. If “Argylle” has truly flopped, will this give pause to anyone considering whether to go forward with “Kingsman 3?” Time will tell, but it’s not looking great right now.