Quentin Tarantino has plans for Kill Bill 3, but it still hasn't happened. Here's everything he has shared about the project and its current status.
Quentin Tarantino has a long list of unmade projects, but the one that still seems somewhat possible is Kill Bill 3, and here’s everything he has shared about it since Kill Bill: Volume 2 came out. Quentin Tarantino has become one of the most popular, respected, but also controversial filmmakers, thanks to his peculiar narrative style, mastery in writing dialogues, and for always adding a more than generous amount of violence and blood to every one of his movies. Tarantino’s career as a filmmaker began in 1992 with the crime movie Reservoir Dogs, but his big break arrived two years later with Pulp Fiction.
Since then, Tarantino has explored different genres with his movies – from slasher with Death Proof to western with Django Unchained and The Hateful Eight, and even martial arts with Kill Bill. After making three crime movies (though all of them with different tones), Tarantino expanded his horizons in 2003 with Kill Bill, a martial arts movie that introduced the audience to Beatrix Kiddo/The Bride (Uma Thurman), who was on a revenge mission to end with a team of assassins she used to work with and their leader, Bill (David Carradine), after they tried to kill her and her unborn child at her wedding. Kill Bill was a critical and commercial success, and because The Bride’s mission wasn’t over, a sequel arrived the following year.
Kill Bill: Volume 2 continued the Bride’s mission to kill the rest of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad and Bill, and she made a shocking discovery when she finally reached Bill: her daughter, B.B, who she thought died when she was shot in the head at her wedding, is alive and was raised by Bill. In the end, the Bride honored the title of the movie and killed Bill with the legendary Five Point Palm Exploding Heart Technique, and left with her daughter to start a new life. Although Kill Bill 2 brought the Bride’s arc to an end and had her fulfilling her promise to, well, kill Bill, Tarantino has shared plans for a third movie since the second one came out, and here’s everything he has said about it since then.
Quentin Tarantino’s Original Plan For Kill Bill
The story of the Bride couldn’t be contained in one movie, but two still weren’t enough at the beginning. While working on Kill Bill: Volume 1 and Volume 2, Tarantino believed they would end up being a saga with a total of four movies, with the final two being made once every ten years. Speaking to EW in 2004, shortly after the release of Kill Bill 2, Tarantino shared that he initially saw his Kill Bill movies as his “Dollars Trilogy” (a reference to Sergio Leone’s Spaghetti Western trilogy formed by A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More, and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly) and wanted to do one every ten years. However, working on the first two movies was exhausting, and he said he would need “at least fifteen years” before doing all this again.
Speculation around a third Kill Bill movie continued in 2007 when executive producer Bennett Walsh shared at the Shanghai Film Festival the basic idea for Kill Bill 3 and 4. Two years later, and now at the Morelia International Film Festival, Tarantino reassured his interest in making Kill Bill 3, and he later said it would be his ninth film (as he has famously stated he will retire after making 10 movies, and both Kill Bill entries count as one). At the time, Tarantino had only made six movies, so planning Kill Bill 3 as his ninth made sense, but all that changed and that spot went to Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, and Kill Bill 3 still hasn’t happened.
Kill Bill 3’s Possible Story
Tarantino has not only teased the possibility of a third Kill Bill movie but also what the movie could be about. In the above-mentioned interview with EW, Tarantino shared that, although the Bride wouldn’t be the star of Kill Bill 3, she would be part of it, and the focus would be on Vernita Green’s (Vivica A. Fox) daughter, Nikki (Ambrosia Kelley). Vernita was the first on the Bride’s list, and she went to her home with the purpose of killing her, but Vernita wasn’t going to leave without a fight. The Bride and Vernita engaged in a knife fight that was interrupted by Nikki arriving from school. The Bride then agreed to meet Vernita at night, but the latter tried to shoot her with a gun hidden in a cereal box. However, the Bride was quicker and she threw a knife to her chest. Unfortunately, Nikki witnessed the whole scene, and so the Bride told her that if she still feels “raw about it” when she grows up, she will be waiting.
Tarantino’s idea for Kill Bill 3, then, would be all about Nikki being raised by Sofie Fatale (Julie Dreyfus), who got all of Bill’s money after his death. Nikki will then take on the Bride in Kill Bill 3's story as she “deserves her revenge every bit as much as the Bride deserved hers” – but there’s also B.B, who is the daughter of two assassins, and she would surely help her mother out. Tarantino has also said that he wanted to wait 10 years after Kill Bill 2 in order to give the Bride and B.B. a period of peace, but that time has already passed. In June 2021, Tarantino shared more ideas for Kill Bill 3, explaining that it would see the Bride and B.B. forced to go on the run after a period of peace. In addition to that, Tarantino teased the possible return of another member of the Deadly Vipers: Elle Driver (Daryl Hannah), who wasn’t killed in Kill Bill 2, as well as Gogo’s (Chiaki Kuriyama) twin sister, Shiaki, who could return to avenge her sister.
Kill Bill 3’s Cast
With plans for Kill Bill 3 in constant change, there haven’t been many new names thrown into the mix. As mentioned above, Tarantino would still include the Bride and Uma Thurman, and if Sophie Fatale returns, then Julie Dreyfus would also be part of the cast of Kill Bill 3. If Elle Driver returns as well – and she totally could as the Bride didn’t kill her but left her completely blind and with the black mamba Elle brought earlier and used to kill Budd (Michael Madsen) – then Daryl Hannah would also have to come back. As for the new talent, Tarantino hasn’t shared a name to play Nikki but Vivica A. Fox has: if Ambrosia Kelley can’t or doesn’t want to reprise her role as Nikki, then she would like to see Zendaya taking over. However, when it comes to who could play B.B, Tarantino has an idea: Maya Hawke, Uma Thurman’s daughter, sharing that it would be “f--king exciting” to see mother and daughter playing that same dynamic in Kill Bill 3.
Everything Uma Thurman Has Said About Kill Bill 3
Kill Bill 3 is definitely an exciting prospect for the franchise and if anyone can make it happen, auteur Quentin Tarantino can. While Kill Bill 2 doesn't set up a sequel in the traditional sense, there's always more room for another story in the Tarantino universe. Uma Thurman has made comments about the possibility of another movie, but unfortunately, it may not exactly be what fans want to hear. Sure Thurman is open to the idea of making the third installment, the problem for the star is that she doesn't believe that the film will come to fruition any time soon. In an interview with the Sirius XM radio program The Jess Cagle Show the Kill Bill actor basically shot the idea down, saying that the third movie is "not immediately on the horizon". She then went on to talk about the fact that while it was discussed in the early years of the franchise, she hasn't heard anything pop up lately. "I can't really tell you anything about it. I mean it has been discussed over the years. There was real thought about it happening, but very long ago," Thurman went on to say.
Everything Maya Hawke Has Said About Kill Bill 3
Uma Thurman's daughter Maya Hawke (of Stranger Things fame) has also made comments on the prospect of appearing in Kill Bill 3. Hawke worked with Quentin Tarantino during Once Upon a Time in Hollywood in which she played one of the Manson followers and she'd be more than happy to work with the director again. However, similarly to her mother, she doesn't believe that Tarantino's Kill Bill 3 is bound to happen anytime soon. In an interview with The Guardian Maya Hawke spoke openly about the opportunity, mostly pinning the possibility on Tarantino's schedule. "There are always rumours about that. Quentin is on his own darn schedule. He’ll do what he wants when he damn well wants," the star said. She then added, "But I’ve known him my whole life and if he ever wanted to work with me again, of course I would love to." Basically both Uma Thurman and Maya Hawke have stated that while they'd appear in the movie, there isn't a chance that Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill 3 is going to happen soon — but that doesn't mean never.
Will Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill 3 Happen?
Quentin Tarantino has shown interest in making Kill Bill 3, he has the idea for the story, knows which characters he would bring back, and also knows who he wants to see as the new stars of the story, and yet the future of Kill Bill 3 is a mystery. Tarantino has gone back and forth giving hopes to fans about a new Kill Bill movie to then shatter them just to give them hopes again a couple of years later. In 2012, Tarantino said that Kill Bill 3 probably wouldn’t happen, and in 2016, it was reported that he spoke with Thurman about it, but he remained non-committal on making the movie happen. In 2019, Tarantino shared that he had recently talked to Thurman about it and shared ideas for the story, and that it would happen “at least three years from now”, with Thurman confirming that he “wrote something”.
Is It Too Late For Kill Bill 3?
It's definitely never too late for Kill Bill 3. This is mostly due to the idea of Tarantino's plot for the next installment of the franchise. The director himself wanted 20 years between Kill Bill: Vol. 2 and any subsequent sequels, meaning the timing does work out as of now. Another reason that it's not too late to make Kill Bill 3 is because of the prospect of casting Maya Hawke as B.B., The Bride's daughter. Thurman's daughter bears a striking resemblance to her mother and she's the perfect age to play the character. In addition to that, the talented actress is becoming a household name thanks to Stranger Things. Tarantino has said in the past that he only wants to direct 10 movies so that his career ends on a high note but the director hast gone back on things he's said before and Kill Bill 3 would not be a bad movie to end on if he were to stay true to his word. Other rumors have said that the third movie could be released as an anime rather than live-action, although this appears to be pure speculation.
In June 2021, Tarantino changed the time setting for Kill Bill 3 once again (and understandably so) and said it would happen 20 years after the ending of Kill Bill 2. In October 2021, at the Rome Film Festival, Tarantino was asked if Kill Bill 3 could be his 10th and final movie, to which he simply replied “why not?”. However, the trick here is that, if the first two volumes count as one, the third one would also have to be part of the package, so Kill Bill 3 wouldn’t be his final movie. Tarantino went on to share his plans for a comedy Western movie, and taking into account everything that has happened with Kill Bill 3, it seems more likely that the Western movie will happen before a new Kill Bill movie. The future of Kill Bill 3 continues to be a mystery, and there are many factors to take into account (such as the actors’ availability and willingness to return, the story, budget, and more), but most importantly, it’s all about Quentin Tarantino’s desire to do it, as he has made it clear that the fatigue he endured when making the first two movies has been the reason for his reluctance to return to the Bride and company.
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