Over the past year or so, we’ve heard more and more rumblings in the world of “Ocean’s 11.” Obviously, there’s the prequel film that is currently in development with Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling attached to star. Then, recently, George Clooney teased an idea he’s been developing for a sequel to the ‘Ocean’s’ franchise that would reunite the crew from the original films. While both seem to be in some sort of development right now, don’t expect Steven Soderbergh to be involved.
In a recent interview with Variety, Steven Soderbergh was asked if he’d have any involvement in the various ‘Ocean’s’ films in development. While he admitted that he was approached to be involved, the filmmaker who directed the original three films isn’t interested in working on another.
“After we made the third movie, I felt like the series was very much concluded for me,” explained Soderbergh. “When the studio approached me to see if I’d be involved in continuing the franchise, I told them no, because it just doesn’t feel like a move forward for me. I’m chasing something else.”
READ MORE: George Clooney Wrote His ‘Oceans 14’ Script, But Who Will Direct? [The Backstory]
If you’ve been following along on The Playlist, this isn’t news to you. Back before the holidays, our Editor-in-Chief, Rodrigo Perez, published a report about what he’s been hearing about the current state of the ‘Ocean’s’ franchise. Part of that is a bit about how Soderbergh has no interest in continuing on with the film series, and even though Clooney is amped on the idea of doing a sequel, the original filmmaker has given his blessing for those folks to do their thing without him.
This isn’t the first time an ‘Ocean’s’ film was made without Soderbergh behind the camera. We had the 2018 spinoff film, “Ocean’s 8.” That film is directed by Gary Ross and featured an all-star cast (as is common with these films). Unfortunately, the spinoff wasn’t a big hit and the new spinoff franchise seemed dead. Now, it appears dual ‘Ocean’s’ projects, the aforementioned films with Clooney and Robbie, respectively, are going to carry the torch. We’ll just have to wait and see if they get made and if they are able to reignite interest in Soderbergh’s film series.
