Vin Diesel has been teasing Riddick 4: Furya for years now. Thank goodness, the see-in-the-dark antihero is finally getting the sequel fans have been waiting for. That’s right, the fourth installment is officially on the way. We’re finally getting a backstory to one of Diesel’s most beloved characters.
The Riddick Franchise So Far
With three Riddick movies already under their belt, along with two fairly popular first-person stealth video games, an anime series, a comic book series and now a spinoff show called Merc City, Vin Diesel’s Riddick is definitely here to stay. Although it has by no means been a critically acclaimed franchise or a blockbuster hit, it does have a strong fanbase that has maintained an interest in the character. This allows the creative team to expand their horizons and look at creating a fourth instalment to the franchise, Riddick 4: Furya, and finally reveal Riddick’s origin story.
Pitch Black (2000) was the first film of the franchise and introduced the original character, Riddick, who was a dark and dangerous criminal who was being transported to an off-world prison. While transporting, something goes wrong, and the transport aircraft (and all its passengers) find themselves crash landing on a foreign, monster-filled planet. Riddick, a fugitive, comes to the rescue, using his unique skills and abilities to survive until daylight when the planet’s monsters go into hiding. Becoming a bit of an anti-hero, the character helps as many others survive as he can. This film quickly built up a cult following for the character.
The Chronicles of Riddick (2004) develops the story of the character further as he ends up fulfilling a prophecy that Lord Marshal, the ruler of the Necromongers, will be killed by a Furyan male. The Necromongers are a fanatic religious group that believes that life is the natural antagonist to the state of the universe and either convert or kill all who stand in their way.
Riddick (2013) sees the titular anti-hero left for dead on a sun-scorched planet, where he must once again survive the onslaught of alien predators. The only way for Riddick to escape is to activate an emergency beacon, but by doing so, he alerts mercenaries to his whereabouts. More concerned about the bounty on his head than his safety, Riddick now has the opportunity to escape but must survive the onslaught. There was also an official motion comics trailer for 2013’s Riddick – Blindsided. A year after this movie hit theatres, it was announced that the next film was in production, continuing the Riddick universe, but unfortunately, this never happened.
Riddick 4: Furya Development
The next instalment of the Riddick franchise was first announced in 2014 when Universal Pictures made it clear that they wanted to move forward with a 4th instalment of the sci-fi franchise. 2015 saw Vin Diesel announcing the title of the film as Riddick 4: Furya, and that the film would be an R-rated film. Unfortunately, the title has been stranded in pre-production since then while Vin Diesel was focusing on his other well-known character – Dom Toretto – and the Fast & Furious franchise.
On May 15, 2022, Vin Diesel posted the first update on Riddick 4: Furya on his Instagram account, suggesting that the film has finally moved on to storyboarding, giving fans a small first look at a panel for a storyboard for the film, captioned:
“Finally got a chance to see some of the new Riddick materials that DT sent over. Wow, exciting is an understatement. FURYA! Happy creative Sunday! All love, Always.”
The snippet of the storyboard was of Riddick in a space suit sporting a shocked expression, and it says, “Scene 10 – The boy’s eyes shine just like Riddick’s.”
Although it is relatively clear from the title, Riddick 4: Furya, it looks like we are finally going to explore more into the story of the character’s origins, as he has been named a Furyan fugitive, but we (and it looks like he is in the same boat with us) know very little about his home world Furya besides that it is a harsh world where only the strongest survive.
Returning Directors, Writers, and Vin Diesel
The directors and writers on the project have also been confirmed to be the directors and writers who worked on the first three movies: David Twohy, co-writing alongside Jim and Ken Wheat. The screenplay was supposedly completed in 2021 (even if Diesel had an early draft back in 2019 already).
Sharing on his official Facebook page in early 2014, Diesel danced around the room and revealed that, thanks to Riddick‘s strong DVD sales, Universal wanted to make another film. In a follow-up live video a year later, both Twohy and Diesel teased the next film as an R-rated “origin story”. “Do you want to know where it all started? Where it all began?” Vin Diesel teased.
Now, finally, after a long wait, the Riddick 4 is finally official. While announcing the project, Twohy had the following to say about the cosmic anti-hero’s return, “Our legion of fans have demanded it for years, and now we’re finally ready to honour their call-to-action with Riddick: Furya. My collaboration with Vin and One Race has spanned 20 fruitful years, as together we’ve created three movies, two video games, an anime production, and motion comics for the internet. This new big-screen event will see a return to Riddick’s homeworld, where we finally get to explore Riddick’s genesis.”
According to Deadline, Diesel and his sister, Samantha Vincent, are set to produce the sci-fi blockbuster. Joining them as producers are Thorsten Schumacher, Lars Sylvest, and Joe Neurauter. Filming is expected to begin in late August of 2024. In May, Diesel took to Instagram again to tease fans with a “Furyan Friday” post, featuring an image of a bright-eyed, battle-armored young Riddick.
Again, just a few days after filming kicked off, Diesel shared behind-the-scenes photos from the desert landscape set of Riddick: Furya of himself in the wheel of a dune buggy.
The film’s official synopsis reads:
“Riddick finally returns to his home world, a place he barely remembers and one he fears might be left in ruins by the Necromongers. But there he finds other Furyans fighting for their existence against a new enemy. And some of these Furyans are more like Riddick than he could have ever imagined.”
Riddick 4: Furya – Everything We Want to See
As we dig through all the bits and pieces of info courtesy of actor Vin Diesel and the creative team behind Riddick 4, we somehow know just as little today as we did in 2013. Still, it would be great to reflect on the series thus far and everything we hope to see in the dark world of Riddick as we embark on yet another high-octane sci-fi blockbuster.
Return to Form
This might be a controversial subject, but the Riddick franchise has struggled to find its proper tone since the unfortunate PG-13 rating of The Chronicles of Riddick. To this day, the second instalment remains the tamest in the series: a terrible thing, considering it was the movie that turned Pitch Black into the saga we know today.
Vin Diesel has always had a reputation for being a devout fan of the films he stars in. From the Fast and Furious franchise to the xXx trilogy, the man loves his movies and understands what the fans want from these films.
Needless to say, Riddick 4 has to return to the same R-rated format as Pitch Black and Riddick (2013.) Not just for the violence but for the storytelling potential that a mature rating allows, especially in a bleak setting such as Riddick‘s.
Desolate Landscapes
The planet Furya might be one of the coolest settings in any sci-fi franchise. The unique blend of Giger-esque skeletal buildings and the overall spooky atmosphere turns Riddick’s homeworld of the Furyans into a place that we’d love to explore more in-depth in Riddick 4.
Considering that most rumours call the upcoming film Riddick 4: Furya, it seems quite likely that Riddick’s planet is going to play a pivotal role in the next instalment.
Speaking of cool visuals, a new Riddick sequel should also expand on the mythos behind the Necromonger Empire. This would not only be something that fans of the series’ deep mythology would appreciate for lore reasons, but film buffs would also be pretty OK with – mostly because it means we’d get to see more of Karl Urban’s Vaako after his “transcendental” moment.
Stylish Action
Visually speaking, the Riddick series has a ton of potential when it comes to crafting some truly breathtaking shots. It’s even better when it all comes together, thanks to those awesome action scenes that elevate the series beyond the realm of mere sci-fi drama.
While it might not have been the critics’ favourite, The Chronicles of Riddick, even with its PG-13 violence, delivered some astonishing action setpieces that should become the norm in any upcoming Riddick project.
Riddick 4: Furya could also learn a few things from the animated flick The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury. Stylistically, Dark Fury is everything that Riddick fans love about the series. A live-action film with the same stylish direction, using the same gritty and imaginative visual effects, would be a thrill to watch!
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While we wait patiently for the next movie, what fresh, new dangers do you think Riddick will have to face in Riddick 4: Furya?
Riddick |
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Left for dead on a sun-scorched planet, Riddick finds himself up against an alien race of predators. Activating an emergency beacon alerts two ships: one carrying a new breed of mercenary, the other captained by a man from Riddick's past. |
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| Studio: One Race Films, Radar Pictures, Riddick Canada Productions, Universal Studios |
| Running Time: 119 minutes |
| Release Date: September 6, 2013 |
| Cast: Vin Diesel, Karl Urban, Katee Sackhoff, Jordi Mollà, Matt Nable, Dave Bautista, Bokeem Woodbine, Raoul Max Trujillo |
| Director: David Twohy |
| Writers: David Twohy, Jim Wheat, Ken Wheat |
| Genre: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi |
| Box Office: $98.3 million |
Necromongers who after destroying Furya were left behind on the planet. Who breeded all kinds of bastardizations of Necromonger creatures in the lab. He’ll face mercs (again, who are always looking for a payday).