The "G.I. Joe" universe has experienced its fair share of change lately. We earlier learned that director Stephen Sommers wouldn’t be returning to helm the sequel (rejoice!), but later found out that Justin Bieber: Never Say Never director Jon Chu will be filling his spot.
Now we’re learning that only three of the principle characters from the first film – Duke, Storm Shadow, and Snake Eyes – will be returning, thanks to a tweet from Rachel Nichols, pictured below courtesy of /Film.
So, we’ll see Channing Tatum, Lee Byung-hun, and Ray Park reprise their roles of Duke, Storm Shadow, and Snake Eyes, respectively.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt provided the only moments of sanity in the first flick, so it’s unfortunate that he won’t be returning, but I’m actually more surprised that Marlon Wayans won’t return to play Ripcord.
Nichols also tweeted she was a bit miffed at not being invited back to reprise her role as Shana "Scarlett" O'Hara.
The original film contained a myriad problems, one of which was the inability to distinguish one character from another. Hopefully that dilemma gets resolved with only three actors from the principle cast returning. Additionally, it means that we might get more than one-note depictions of the characters that are coming back. However, that might not be the case, as the cutting back of principle characters might result from a more limited budget.
If John Chu can turn around this franchise, it will be impressive, that's for sure.