Casting continues on filmmaker Matthew Vaughn’s highly anticipated Kingsman sequel, titled Kingsman: The Golden Circle, but the most recent addition is decidedly unexpected. Per THR, Elton John is in negotiations to join the ensemble of the spy follow-up, marking his first onscreen feature film performance since 1997’s Spice World. It’s unclear who John would play, and given that Mark Millar’s source material dealt heavily with the world of celebrities it’s conceivable that he’s playing himself, but regardless, the musician is an interesting addition to the ensemble.
The story for the follow-up finds Taron Egerton’s Eggsy now a fully-fledged member of Kingsman and jetting off to America to rub elbows with Kingsman’s American counterparts, The Statesmen, run by Halle Berry’s character. But things take a turn and Eggsy and his colleagues are tasked with going up against Julianne Moore’s formidable villain Poppy.
As with the first film, Vaughn co-wrote the screenplay with Jane Goldman, and while previous reports indicated that Colin Firth would not be back for the follow-up given that his character is, well, dead, the film’s debut poster signals that he will return in some capacity after all. Casting has been ramping up recently with Mark Strong reprising his role and Game of Thrones alum Pedro Pascal signing on, but John’s involvement is a twist that no one saw coming.
It’ll be interesting to see if John has a substantial supporting role in the film or if it’s merely a cameo. His experience in the feature film world has been mainly relegated to voice work on The Simpsons and The Road to El Dorado, in addition to music work, so this is certainly a change of pace for the musician. Production on Kingsman: The Golden Circle is expected to begin soon in anticipation of a 2017 release date.
