Quentin Tarantino has officially put the kibosh on rumors regarding a potential third entry in the Kill Bill saga.
While speaking with the Flemish newspaper De Morgen, Tarantino effectively shut down the idea of a Kill Bill: Volume 3 starring original lead Uma Thurman alongside her daughter (and Stranger Things actor) Maya Hawke. “I don’t see that. My last film is about a film critic, a male critic. And he plays in the ’70s,” Tarantino said in the interview (translated by Deadline).
Written and directed by Tarantino, Kill Bill: Volume 1 originally released in theaters in 2003. A follow-up, Kill Bill: Volume 2, subsequently hit the big screen in 2004. Tarantino has long maintained that he considers Volume 1 and Volume 2 to be two halves of one single film, rather than two separate movies. On that note, all of Kill Bill was shot at the same time, and Tarantino did originally plan to release the whole thing as a single feature. He only decided to split it up into two parts to avoid having to cut scenes.
The various murmurs regarding Kill Bill: Volume 3
By all accounts, there have never been solid plans for Kill Bill: Volume 3. However, Tarantino discussed a potential follow-up with Thurman as recently as 2019. “Me and Uma have talked about it recently, frankly, to tell you the truth,” he said at the time. “I have thought about it a little further. We were talking about it literally last week. If any of my movies were going to spring from my other movies, it would be a third Kill Bill.”
In 2021, Tarantino further discussed what a potential Kill Bill: Volume 3 might look like. He even floated the idea of Hawke joining Thurman on screen. “I think it’s just revisiting the characters 20 years later and just imagining the Bride and her daughter, B.B., having 20 years of peace, and then that peace is shattered,” the filmmaker said. “And now the Bride and B.B. are on the run and just the idea of being able to cast Uma and cast her daughter Maya in the thing would be fucking exciting.”
In 2022, however, Thurman cautioned fans hoping for Kill Bill: Volume 3 to temper their expectations. “There was real thought about it happening,” the actor explained. “I don’t see it as immediately on the horizon. I hate to disappoint people. Everybody wishes it would be the case, but I think it’s not immediately on the horizon.”
The Movie Critic will be Quentin Tarantino’s final film
As he alluded to in the De Morgen interview, Tarantino’s final film will be titled The Movie Critic. The acclaimed filmmaker has long said that his plan was to either make 10 films or retire by age 60. Tarantino turned 60 earlier this year, and The Movie Critic will indeed be his 10th feature (again, assuming you count the Kill Bill duology as one movie).
News of The Movie Critic broke in March, mere weeks before Tarantino’s 60th birthday. At the time, it was reported that Tarantino had already written the film’s script and was aiming to start production in the fall. Given its title and 1970s Los Angeles setting, there was initially speculation that The Movie Critic might be a biographical piece about the late, great Pauline Kael. Tarantino has since debunked this theory.
