BY: Amanda Jane Stern

It might be hard to believe, but Canadian actor Ryan Reynolds is set to star in three action comedies being released this year. It is hard to pinpoint why the 6’2 actor who comes across as confident yet sincere (and has a keen sense of humor) keeps getting typecast in such films. 

Since his Golden Globe nominated turn in Deadpool, the action roles have kept pouring in. Let’s take a look at some of his upcoming projects

The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard

This action comedy sequel to 2017’s The Hitman’s Bodyguard is again under the direction of  Patrick Hughes.

Reynolds returns as bodyguard Michael Bryce, alongside the hitman Darius Kincaid (Samuel L. Jackson) and his wife Sonia Kincaid (Salma Hayek).

Since ***spoiler alert*** Gary Oldman’s dictatorial belurisian villain from the first film went kersplat after getting kicked off a roof, Antonio Banderas take the helm as the movie’s baddie. He portrays a mobster trying to hunt down the movie’s titular trio: Hitman, Wife, and Bodyguard. 

This film is currently scheduled for a June 16, 2021 theatrical release.

 

Free Guy

Ever wonder about the lives of non-player characters (NPCs) in the background of video games? Us neither. But as the titular “Guy,” Reynolds portrays an anonymous bank teller who realizes that it’s up to him to become the hero in order to save the open world video game he lives in. 

Free Guy co-stars Jodie Comer (an Emmy winner for Killing Eve) and Joe Keery (Steve Harrington of Netflix’s Stranger Things) as computer programmers trapped in the video game by Taika Waititi’s villainous Antoine. The ensemble of this sci-fi action comedy is under the direction of Shawn Levy (behind the Night At The Museum franchise)

This film was shot back in 2019, and it’s release date had been in flux due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As of now, it is scheduled for a theatrical and IMAX release on August 13, 2021.

Red Notice

Reynolds will star as the world’s greatest con-man alongside Dwayne Johnson, as INTERPOL’s  greatest profiler, and Gal Gadot, as the world’s greatest art thief in Netflix’s upcoming thriller Red Notice. The movie was written and directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber.

The movie is set to come out sometime this year on Netflix.

 

The Adam Project

Reynold’s teams up again with Free Guy director Shawn Levy on this time travel action flick. In the movie, Reynolds stars as a man who must travel back in time to get help from his 13-year-old self. Why he needs his past self’s help is unknown. 

Zoe Saldana, Mark Ruffalo, Jennifer Garner, and Catherine Keener also star in the movie.

 

Clue

Based on the classic board game that instilled an irrational fear of lead pipes for half of its players, and an irrational confidence in an ability to solve murders in the other half, comes a new cinematic adaptation of Clue.

This time, the film will be directed by James Bobin, with a script by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick. Jason Bateman will co-star with Reynolds. Is it too much to hope for a Tim Curry cameo?

 

Everyday Parenting Tips 

This upcoming comedy movie from director Paul King and writer Simon Rich will follow the challenges of child raising during a monster uprising.

 

Deadpool 3 

And finally, Reynolds will step into the role of Wade Wilson/Deadpool once again in the third movie in the Deadpool series. Plot details have not yet been announced.