Is there more story to tell when it comes to the new Netflix original action flick Extraction? The possibility of an Extraction sequel or prequel is certainly on the table, according to director Sam Hargrave and producer/writer Joe Russo. Extraction marks the feature directorial debut for Hargrave, who previously worked with the Russo brothers as the second-unit director on Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.

The latest Netflix release stars Chris Hemsworth as Tyler Rake, a mercenary-for-hire fighting his way out of Bangladesh as he tries to ferry Ovi Mahajan (Rudhraksh Jaiswal), the kidnapped teenage son of an international crime lord, to safety. During Tyler and Ovi's life-or-death mission, the pair find safe shelter with Gaspar, a friend and ally of Tyler's played by David Harbour. Gaspar's time in Extraction, as well as a very intriguing ending, caught our attention as both aspects of the movie open up the story to possible sequel or prequel ideas. So, when Collider's Steve Weintraub interviewed Hargrave and Russo about the film, he asked them about their sequel or prequel thoughts, including whether discussions have happened about turning Extraction into a franchise and where the story could go in the future.

One distinct possibility for continuing the Extraction story would be to hone in on the relationship between Habour's character, Gaspar, and Hemsworth's character, Tyler Rake. It's clear in Extraction there is a history between the two characters and the fight these two get into becomes even more intense and intriguing because of that context. During Collider's conversation with Hargrave, the director addressed Gaspar and Tyler's relationship and the backstory the team created on set to help add some weight to the sequence.

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Image via Netflix

"We thought it was necessary in that moment, to justify the use of deadly force by Ovi (Jaiswal), to put Rake (Hemsworth) in a compromised position where his life was in danger. It did come up; we discussed how is [Gaspar] gonna beat [Tyler Rake]. We discussed it and our backstory is that those two guys — and, spoiler alert, who knows whether there could be prequels or sequels could possibly go if Netflix likes the movie —but their backstory is these guys trained together and they spent a lot of time together in the military and even outside of that, in private military sector, and their skills would be matched but they just went in different directions. Harbour['s character] 'went native,' you might say. He found a life in Bangladesh and stayed there and Rake kept going down that [other] path. But their skillset, if you matched them up, they're kind of evenly matched. So, to make up for the fact that Rake has been doing [this work] consistently and Harbour['s character] has not, we made sure that Chris had enough damage, if he was beaten down enough, we'd believe that Harbour had the skills to take him down."

Things took an exciting turn in the conversation when Hargrave revealed whether he saw a possibility for an Extraction prequel where Harbour and Hemsworth's character team up. Hargrave shared, "There's a lot of potential; it's so interesting. And again, the beauty of an ambiguous ending is that there's a lot of ways you can go. You can go forwards or backwards. Either way you look on the timeline are very interesting stories," and continued to elaborate on whether prequel or sequel discussions have actually taken place between himself, Russo, and the Extraction cast.

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Image via Netflix

"It wasn't something [discussed] on set. As soon as it got mentioned, that thought of a sequel — because, I guess, Netflix was enjoying the dailies and things were coming together and people were like, 'Oh, this could be...'. You know, you talk about all these things. Is it a franchise? Is it all these things? Who knows until the movie comes out and the audience responds. They'll be the ones who decide. But it was talked about. As soon as it was, Joe brought up an interesting point that most of the time, you get a sequel.  Rarely do you go back in time into prequels. [...] You get the sense that Chris and Harbour have a great chemistry [...] so we thought that was a very interesting way — if you were to go backwards in time — that you could play with the prequel to a story like this."

Speaking of, Russo was also very pleased with Harbour and Hemsworth's chemistry onscreen. When asked if the pair's on-screen chemistry together could be the stuff of a prequel, the Extraction producer and writer told Collider, "I thought their chemistry was fantastic in the film. I think Harbour's amazing. He's a scene-stealer. [A prequel] is a great idea. I think it would be interesting — you know, we traditionally go forward in franchises, but what if you went backwards? That would be an interesting concept to explore."

With an answer like that, it was only natural for us to ask Russo if there had been any seriously discussions about a prequel, which led him to initially respond with a coy, "Maybe," before going on to say,

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Image via Netflix

"[Netflix was] very happy with the film and very supportive of it. They've been phenomenal to work with. Certainly, when you find an interesting character and an interesting world to explore with a great director, you're going to want to continue to explore it. My brother and I love franchise filmmaking, we love serialized storytelling. I just think you can do interesting things with characters as you progress their story. You're limited by two hours, you can only say so much, it's a very specific craft. When you expand the amount of time you put that character onscreen, you can make other choices with them. So, it would be exciting at hell to go back to work on a second film in that series. We've had the preliminary conversations. The question is: Does it all make sense? Can we find the right story to tell? Are we happy to go tell that? Does Sam want to tell that story? Does Chris want to tell that story? There's still a lot of work to be done."

Even if there is no definitive answer on whether a prequel or sequel will happen, Hargrave and Russo's comments on the topic certainly leave fans of the movie with plenty to chew on. Looks like we'll just have to keep those fingers crossed and hope Netflix gives the green light on another movie because it sure seems like the Extraction story isn't done yet.

Extraction is now streaming on Netflix. Click here for all our previous coverage on the film.