The Old Guard 2 stars Henry Golding and Marwan Kenzari are all too aware that they have a limited window to convincingly pull off playing immortal beings who never age.
“We’re getting old,” Golding said with a laugh, in a recent paired Zoom interview with Kenzari for Decider.
It’s already been five years since the release of The Old Guard, the Charlize Theron-led action movie, based on Greg Rucka’s comic book series of the same name, about a team of immortals who secretly fight for the good of humankind. The film was a hit for Netflix at the height of the pandemic in July 2020, and the streamer ordered up a sequel shortly after. But though production began in 2022—with director Victoria Mahoney replacing director Gina Prince-Bythewood—post-production was delayed after regime changes at Netflix, according to Theron. Now, finally, the sequel—which began streaming on Netflix today—is seeing the light of day. The original cast is back, along with two new characters: Tuah (Golding), a new immortal who joins the team; and Discord (played by Uma Thurman), a dangerous new adversary.
But fans looking for resolution should brace themselves for an even more egregious cliffhanger ending than the first Old Guard movie. Golding and Kenzari spoke to Decider about their hopes for speedy greenlight for The Old Guard 3, how Golding helped craft his character, and the evolution of Joe and Nicky’s romance.
DECIDER: Henry, tell me about your character, Tuah. This is a character invented for the movie, not based on the comics. I read that you picked the name?
HENRY GOLDING: Victoria [Mahoney, the director] and I [came up with the name]. She had a couple [of names] and she was like, “What do you think about this one?” Tuah really stood out, because in Malaysian folklore, there’s a warrior by the name of Hang Tuah. I thought, this makes so much sense with the immortals traveling around the world. In Malaysia, [Hang Tuah] is one of the greatest heroes of folklore. I was like, that’s the name. It’s gotta be Tuah. We integrated a lot of Malaysian culture [into him]. His knife, his kris, comes from pencak silat, the style of martial arts found in Southeast Asia, Indonesia, and Malaysia. It was awesome that Victoria was really open to collaborate on that, and give [Tuah] a personal stamp. It was exciting to be able to bring a little bit of me into the character.
Tuah is more of a reader, but gets some fighting in. What kind of training and fight choreography did you do for the movie?
HG: [Laughs.] I know, he’s definitely a little bit of a recluse. But he knows how to handle himself. I’m glad we got some action in. We were just chatting earlier—it would have been cool to get some more action, you know? Maybe in the next one. But it’s always fun to work with some of the best teams in Hollywood on the action front. Every single one of us threw ourselves into it, and it shows on screen, you know. You can see us actually doing the stunts. Of course, there were ridiculous jumps—things that we need actual professional [stunt performers] to do. They don’t trust actors too much. But we get stuck in as much as possible.
Marwan, I read that, for the sequel, you and Luca [Marinelli, who plays Nicky] had a three-hour brainstorm session about Joe and Nicky’s backstory. Can you share any details from that, especially moments that didn’t make it into the film?
MARWAN KENZARI: We did an improvisation. One of the rules of improvisation is that you don’t know everything—you don’t make appointments about how the improvisation will go. For some reason—without us talking about it, without us ever reading something about their backstory—[the improvisation] brought us to Ireland. I don’t know if you know the Cliffs of Moher, this beautiful, theatrical landscape on the west side of Ireland. For some reason, we were there as old guards. In the backstory, in this improvisation, we were there. My character and Luca’s character—we would play this game of running towards the edge of the cliff to see who freaks out first. That ended up [being], very shortly, in the movie.
We created, within that improvisation, this background story of us as Old Guards being in a thick-walled house somewhere in the beautiful landscape of West Ireland. I really hope that, one day—if we’re lucky enough that we would ever continue this beautiful journey—it would bring us [to West Ireland]. Any excuse to go to see the Scottish or Irish landscape, I’ll take!
In the first movie, Joe’s big romantic speech—about Nicky being so much more than his boyfriend—became this beloved, viral moment. Why do you think that speech, and that kiss, resonated with so many fans?
MK: I think because in the conventional idea of [super]heroes—and I don’t want to slag off any other movies or anything, I’m a big, big movie fan, in general—but the fragile aspect of what he says in that scene, combined with what they do and how strong they are, brought something new [to the genre]. For a lot of subcultures—people in the world that want, and need to be supported, and [need to] feel the strength that they deserve—it was heartwarming. I was very proud and grateful that I could say something that resonated with a lot of people. I’m very happy with it.
In this movie, Nicky gets the big romantic speech to Joe, about their love feeling like true immortality. But I have to say, though the head nuzzle at the end of that scene is very sweet, I wanted to see another kiss!
MK: Yeah, yeah. You know, there’s so much—this world that we live in, as these characters, is so big that you would need not only three movies — I would say you need like twenty hours of filming to cover the richness of these characters, and what is possible with these characters for each and every one of them, to be honest.
HG: This is his pitch to Netflix, for us. Get that petition done!
Marwan, were there any takes of that Joe and Nicky moment that did end in the kiss?
MK: I don’t know. We shot a lot that day. Definitely, some takes were more leaning on the romantic side. Some takes were leaning more on the dramatic side. Obviously, we’re not in charge—the grownups are in charge of what ends up in the movie. But the connection between me and Luca as friends is something to be very proud of. We don’t have to act all that camaraderie and the love between us. I actually, genuinely love Luca, as a brother, and as a dear, dear, dear colleague and friend. That’s not that complicated to act.
[SPOILER WARNING: The next question contains a major spoiler for The Old Guard 2 ending. Skip ahead to the last question if you haven’t yet watched the sequel!]
What was your reactions when you first read that cliffhanger ending in the script, which ends with both of your characters frozen, in body bags?
HG: We always knew we wouldn’t be able to summarize such an epic crescendo in one movie. We knew there was going to have to be a cut point. The jeopardy of Andy having lost the Old Guard, was such a carrot to dangle in front of the audience. Now she’s on the back foot. What does she do? She’s back with her eternal lover. The power that those two have, is a force to be reckoned with, and so the impending clash with Uma Thurman’s character—it’s salivating, just to think about. Somebody had to be put in a body bag, and I guess it was us!
Fans are going to be banging down Netflix’s door for a third movie, so what can both of you tell me about those conversations with Victoria, with Greg, with Charlize— will we get an Old Guard 3?
HG: It really depends on you guys [the audience]!
MK: I think we just all hope that we [get a sequel], as fast as we can. We don’t need a lot of excuses to hang out, on set, and off.
HG: We’re getting old!
MK: Yeah, so if we want to pull off these stunts and fights, we need to get cracking!