Summary

  • Gareth Evans directs Tom Hardy in the action movie Havoc, a city-wide conspiracy thriller.
  • Havoc marks Evans' return to the action genre after a decade, following The Raid franchise.
  • Despite being finished since 2021, Havoc's release remains uncertain, with no confirmed date from Netflix.

The director of The Raid films, Gareth Evans, is working on a new action movie called Havoc – and it could be the perfect replacement for The Raid 3. The action-packed plot of Havoc kicks off when a drug deal goes horribly awry. Tom Hardy will play a detective who has to uncover a city-wide conspiracy while he fights his way through the criminal underworld to save a politician’s estranged son. Evans is directing from a script he wrote and he’s also producing the film alongside Hardy, Ed Talfan, and Aram Tertzakian.

Ever since he directed The Raid and its sequel, Evans has been one of the most revered filmmakers working in the action genre. The Raid franchise’s blood-soaked, high-octane fight scenes rank among the greatest ever filmed. Evans’ visceral direction of The Raid movies helped to inspire a wave of uncompromisingly brutal action thrillers like John Wick, Atomic Blonde, Extraction, and The Night Comes for Us. His return to the action genre makes Havoc one of the most exciting movies.

Tom Hardy's Havoc Will Be Gareth Evans' First Action Movie Since The Raid 2

Evans is returning to the action genre after a decade away

Havoc will be Evans’ first full-on action movie since he made The Raid 2 a decade ago. After The Raid 2, Evans switched his attention to a different genre and helmed the 2018 gothic folk horror film Apostle, which was a drastic creative departure from The Raid films. Since then, Evans has also worked on the crime thriller series Gangs of London, based on the video game of the same name, which premiered in 2020. Gangs of London was a lot more action-focused than Apostle, but it’s still not an all-out action extravaganza like The Raid movies.

Evans hasn’t made an action movie since The Raid 2. Havoc will mark his return to the genre that put him on the map. And given just how great he is at directing action – and how mind-blowing the best action sequences in The Raid franchise are – that’s very exciting. It’s like if Steven Spielberg went back to make another shark movie or if Ridley Scott went back to make another futuristic noir; Evans is in his element in the action genre.

Evans first made his name with the 2009 martial arts actioner Merantau.

What's Going On With Havoc?

It's supposedly been finished for years but still hasn't been released

Walker (Tom Hardy) in a police vest with a bloody nose in Havoc

Way back in 2021, Netflix confirmed Havoc was in the works. It was announced that Evans would direct Havoc from a script he wrote under his exclusive deal with Netflix. Hardy was tapped to lead a star-studded cast featuring such screen legends as Forest Whitaker, Timothy Olyphant, and Luis Guzmán in ing roles. Principal photography began in Cardiff in July 2021 and it was declared to be one of the biggest movies ever to be produced in Evans’ native Wales. Filming officially wrapped in October 2021, but now, nearly three years later, the movie still hasn’t been released.

There were reports that Havoc had been completed and was just awaiting its release. However, there were conflicting reports that there have been delays to the film’s release. There were further reports that the film had gone into reshoots. It was expected to be released sometime in 2023, but that didn’t happen. Now, it’s halfway through 2024 and Havoc is still no closer to arriving on Netflix. The streamer hasn’t confirmed a release date for Havoc – or even a release window – and there isn’t as much as a teaser trailer to promote the film.

Why The Raid 3 Never Happened

Evans moved on to different projects

Iko Uwais with an assault rifle in The Raid

Although the first two The Raid films were really successful, The Raid 3 never happened. Ahead of The Raid 2’s release, Evans said that The Raid 3 was in the works and it would pick up a couple of hours before the end of The Raid 2. However, in a later interview, Evans said he wanted to take a break from martial arts movies for a few years before working on The Raid 3. Evans, of course, did take that break from the genre and it ended up lasting more than a few years.

Evans later said that he had no plans for The Raid 3. He felt that the franchise concluded in a satisfying way with The Raid 2, and after moving back to the UK, he felt like he’d closed that chapter of his life and was instead looking to explore new projects. So, it doesn’t seem like The Raid 3 will ever get made. But I don’t mind not getting a Raid 3 if Havoc is every bit as thrilling and action-packed as The Raid 3 would’ve been.