Keean Johnson Wants An Alita: Battle Angel Sequel

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20th Century Studios

#AlitaArmy rise up: Keean Johnson wants an Alita: Battle Angel sequel. 

The 2019 manga adaptation was a passion project for James Cameron. He’d long been attached as director – however, with the impending nuke of four Avatar sequels, he stepped aside to be a producer and let Robert Rodriguez take the reins.

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Johnson played Hugo, scrap dealer and love interest of Alita (Rosa Salazar). His deathly fate at the end of the first film seemed fairly concrete – however, that hasn’t curbed his desire for a follow-up to the fan-favourite blockbuster.

20th Century Studios

In an interview with UNILAD, Johnson exclusively revealed that he’d love to see a sequel to Alita: Battle Angel – particularly after the excruciating, Edward Norton’d cliffhanger.

When asked if he wants a sequel, the Midway actor said: 

Oh yeah, after hearing stuff from [James Cameron] and Robert about where the world could go – I think the more that could come out, the better it’d get. There’s so many different things that could happen and so much material. I don’t think Alita could ever get old, so I’d love to watch another one – regardless of whether I’m in it.

Battle Angel was a huge step for the 23-year-old: ‘It was my first real film you could say.’ In one year, Johnson worked with two of cinema’s modern big screen names: Rodriguez and Roland Emmerich.

20th Century Studios

‘I watched [Rodriguez’s] films growing up – I fell right into his orbit, you know with Sin City and his other movies. So when I got the chance to audition for him, it was kind of a dream come true. When I signed on, it was also too good to be true – then the next day, Christopher Waltz joined the production, and I was like, oh, this is real! So yeah, it was a wild experience,’ he said.

The box office reaction to Battle Angel wasn’t bombastic – but it’s amassed a fervently passionate fan-base online, with endless calls for a sequel. Johnson isn’t surprised though: ‘There was always something unique and world-building and different about Alita.’

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Johnson added: 

I always thought there’s gonna be a bunch of people that fall in love with the character – at the end of the day, it’s for the Alita fans. Then the #AlitaArmy came along and they’re pretty die-hard – I think it’s cool to be a part of something where people are so in love with it and has such a big following, and they want to see some more.

Johnson’s latest film, Midway, is out now on Digital Download and on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray and DVD on March 9.

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