Mark Wahlberg might have found success with the recently released live-action adaptation ofUncharted, but he wasn’t so lucky when pitching a sequel to Martin Scorsese’s Academy Award-winning filmThe Departed. the 50-year-old actor revealed that he tried to persuadeWarner Bros.into greenlighting a sequel to the 2006 film but ultimately failed.
Upon its release,The Departedearned both commercial success and critical acclaim, grossing $291 million worldwide andwinning four Academy Awards, with Wahlberg also nominated in the Best Supporting Actor category. In addition to him, the star-studded cast featured Leonardo DiCaprio, Jack Nicholson, Matt Damon, Martin Sheen, Alec Baldwin, and Vera Farmiga, among others.
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“I went into a meeting with [screenwriter] Bill Monahan atWarner Bros.to pitch the sequel toThe Departed,” Wahlberg explained during an interview with KFC Radio. “And let’s just say the pitch didn’t go very well. He really didn’t have anything fleshed out, but he’s the kind of guy you just trust to go and write something. And so when we were working on the script forCocaine CowboysandAmerican Desperado[I] said, ‘Bill, just go write. They like to have things well-thought-out and planned. It’d be a pretty good one.'” While Wahlberg did not go into detail as to what went wrong during the meeting, he did reveal that he and Monahan planned on bringing inrenowned actors like Brad Pittand Robert De Niro to join the cast.
Regarding the plot,The Departed 2was set to center on Wahlberg’s character, Dignam. In 2011, Monahan told /Film that his idea for the sequel was to set the story before, during, and after the events ofThe Departed. Of course, while Monahan though the idea was “extraordinary,” the project ultimately didn’t prosper.
While the sequel toThe Departednever got off the ground, Wahlberg might be getting a follow-up toUncharted, which debuted domestically on February 18. Director Ruben Fleischer recently explained in the Hero Nation podcast that he’s hoping Sony will givea possibleUnchartedsequel the green light.
Given the success ofUncharted, which recently became one of the highest-grossing films of 2022, it wouldn’t be surprising if Sony decided to approve a second installment. In the film, Wahlberg plays Victor “Sully” Sullivan, an associate and mentor to Tom Holland’s Nathan Drake. A follow-up could show an aging Sully trying to keep up with the dangerous and demanding nature of his job as a treasure hunter, much like seen in theUnchartedvideo game serieson which the film is based.
The Departedis now available on Netflix.
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