WARNING! This article contains SPOILERS for The Gray Man.
The Gray Man has a largely open-ended conclusion, setting up a sequel through five big plotlines. While Netflix has yet to greenlight The Gray Man 2, the Russo brothers originally developed the movie with the streaming service with the intention of starting a franchise. As such, it’s not surprising that The Gray Man’s ending leaves so many storylines unfinished.
Continuing Netflix’s trend of placing several A-list stars in big-budget action movies, 2022’s The Gray Man stars Ryan Gosling as Sierra Six, whose real name is Court Gentry, a former prisoner whose sentence was commuted in exchange for a lifelong commitment to the CIA. The Gray Man sees the nameless assassin turn against the agency once Sierra Four hands him a drive with dark information on CIA director Denny Carmichael (Regé-Jean Page), which soon sees an international manhunt for Six led by the despicable mercenary Lloyd Hansen (Chris Evans). With the help of the CIA Agent Dani Miranda (Ana de Armas), Six must avoid capture while rescuing his mentor Donald Fitzroy (Billy Bob Thornton), and his orphaned niece Claire (Julia Butters).
In The Gray Man’s ending, the CIA’s Suzanne Brewer (Jessica Henwick) kills Lloyd and holds Six and Claire in captivity after she, Carmichael, and Miranda are exonerated. However, Six manages to escape with Claire to an unknown future, with the Russo brothers leaving plenty of loose ends untied. Considering The Gray Man is adapted from the book series of the same name, the Netflix movie has plenty more stories to tell should it be turned into a franchise. With five major stories left unfinished in The Gray Man’s ending, Netflix has already set up excitement for a sequel, as The Grey Man 2 could capitalize on various major story beats.
Six & Claire Are On The Run In The Gray Man's Ending
The Gray Man leaves Six and Claire’s future unclear, with the two simply driving off after Six rescued her from a guarded home in Virginia. With Six being hunted down by the CIA, it won’t be easy for Ryan Gosling’s character and Claire to go undetected, which sets up plenty of intriguing possibilities for how they evade the authorities in The Gray Man 2. Since Netflix’s The Gray Man took some big liberties with how it adapted the books, it’s unclear whether Six’s future in a sequel would be pulled from the second novel.
Now that Six’s only real ally left is Ana de Armas’ CIA Agent Dani Miranda - an original character for The Gray Man movie - he’ll likely have to scout out other former agents or friends of Fitz who can help him and Claire stay under the radar. The biggest obstacle Claire and Six will face in The Gray Man 2 is the fact that Claire can be tracked via her pacemaker. Either way, Suzanne and Denny will be intent on tracking down Six and keeping him from revealing any of the damning information on the drive.
Dani Can Fight The CIA From Inside In The Gray Man 2
The events of The Gray Man revealed to Agent Dani Miranda the truly corrupt nature of her bosses within the agency, with Ana de Armas’ action character being Six’s only friend left heading into the sequel. The Gray Man’s ending saw Dani threaten Denny that the deal of her staying quiet would be over should any harm come to Claire, but since the young character was rescued by Six, there isn’t much holding Agent Miranda back from exposing her bosses. Since she chose to stay with the CIA in the movie's ending, a The Grey Man sequel could see Dani taking down Denny, Suzanne, and the bigger unseen villain from the inside.
The Gray Man's Big Villain Still Hasn't Been Revealed
While Denny Carmichael and Lloyd Hansen are the main antagonists of The Gray Man as they try to kill Six and cover their own tracks, the film makes subtle references to the fact that there’s another unknown figure pulling the strings at the CIA. characters Suzanne, Lloyd, and Denny refer to the “old man” on a few occasions, who is implied to be their real boss that sanctions much of their corrupt work. However, even Denny is afraid to tell the “old man” the truth about what’s happened with Sierra Six abandoning the mission with the drive in hand, not to mention that he hired the deplorable and unpredictable Lloyd Hansen to carry out the hit. Since Denny and Suzanne aren’t truly the antagonists that Six has to worry about, The Gray Man 2 will need to finally reveal the identity of the franchise’s big villain.
The Gray Man Sets Up Suzanne’s CIA Takeover
After largely taking the backseat in the action of The Gray Man, Jessica Henwick’s Suzanne Brewer finally took over control of the situation toward the very end of the movie. When Chris Evans' character Lloyd and Six were fighting to the death in the fountain, Suzanne arrived to shoot and kill Lloyd while immobilizing Six by shooting a bullet in his leg. When Suzanne and Six return to the United States, it’s clear that she has enough leverage over Denny Carmichael to threaten that she’ll have more influence than him in the agency. However, with Six on the run, Suzanne is apt to be facing consequences from their unseen superior in the CIA. It seemed odd that The Gray Man had hardly used the talents of Jessica Henwick, so the ending appears to be setting up a showcase of her action skills in the Netflix sequel as she tracks down Six again.
The Gray Man Sets Up The Reveal Of The Other Sierra Agents
While Ryan Gosling’s character is one of six Sierra agents, Netflix's The Gray Man revealed that he was the last of those who were still working for the CIA at the start of the movie. The Gray Man’s characters explained that all the rest of the Sierra agents were either dead or back in prison, with the first segment revealing the death of Sierra Four. Since The Gray Man said some are back in prison, The Gray Man 2 could see Six trying to track down whichever other agents are still alive, though the erasure of their identities would make doing so a difficult task. Even if Six isn’t able to actually meet any, a potential The Gray Man sequel can still reveal the true identities of the Sierra agents that came before Court Gentry.
