‘The Departed’ is one of the jewels in the crown within the filmography of Martin Scorseseand after the success of the police thriller, the possibility of a sequel was hard to come by… until a bad pitch to the production company completely buried the project.
No script, no sequel
‘departed’ It was Scorsese’s only Best Directing Oscar, with its exploration of Boston’s Irish mob enchanting critics and audiences alike and grossing nearly $300 million at the box office. The police drama featured a star-studded cast from Hollywood, including Jack Nicholson, Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon… And although the police drama leaves everything quite well tied, it did leave a somewhat open door to continue the story in a possible second film.
Of course, most of the main characters do not end too well except for Sergeant Sean Dignam, whom he played Mark Wahlbergso in principle his character would be one of the main threads to continue the story.
In a recent interview with KFC Radio to promote ‘Uncharted’, Whalberg has confirmed that Warner Bros. was presented with a pitch for the sequel, which would again have a script by Bill Monahan and would include heavyweights like Robert De Niro and Brad Pitt in the main roles.
“We talked about it…about a prequel and a sequel. I went with Bill Monahan to a meeting with Warner to do a pitch for the sequel to ‘The Departed’…he wanted me to go with him. This was right after win Best Picture, it was a success… But let’s say that the pitch did not go well at all, “explained the actor.
According to Whalberg, when the meeting took place there was no script prepared, which was not very popular with Warner. There were ideas for the sequel to ‘The Departed’, although it seems that Scorsese had no interest in making a second film and this made the project less attractive.
Over time, the possibility of a sequel ended up sinking, although in recent years we have had quite a few “revivals” of franchises thanks to streaming, so you never know if we will still see it, even if it is with a different cast.