It’s probably not much of a coincidence that the new title for the upcoming Kingsman prequel was announced today, just a few days after Father’s Day: The King’s Man is the kind of title only a dad joke could love. Matthew Vaughn’s prequel, which is set in the 1900s and explores the origins of the fictional British agency, is set to hit theaters next February. The cast for the spinoff, previously titled Kingsman: The Great Game (a little too Sherlock-y, I guess), was revealed back in February, with Aaron Taylor-Johnson headlining a pretty, pretty good and largely British ensemble: Stanley Tucci, Gemma Arterton, Harris Dickinson, Ralph Fiennes, Rhys Ifans, Matthew Goode, Charles Dance, Daniel Bruhl, Djimon Hounsou, and more. (It’s also worth noting that Taylor-Johnson previously starred in another Mark Millar adaptation directed by Vaughn: Kick-Ass.)
The official synopsis for the prequel sheds a little more light on the approach Vaughn is taking:
As a collection of history’s worst tyrants and criminal masterminds gather to plot a war to wipe out millions, one man must race against time to stop them. Discover the origins of the very first independent intelligence agency in THE KING’S MAN, directed by Matthew Vaughn, coming to theaters February 2020.
Vaughn originally planned to film the prequel and Kingsman 3 back to back, but Taron Egerton’s commitments to Rocketman made the scheduling impossible. As far as we know, Vaughn is still planning to get to work on Kingsman 3 relatively soon, with both Egerton and Colin Firth set to reprise their roles.