Citizen Vigilante 2 director sets sights on canceled Star Wars star for high-octane comeback
Citizen Vigilante 2 is locked in for a release window, and Uwe Boll is aiming to add Gina Carano to the action-thriller sequel.
Right, so here we are again with Uwe Boll—Germany's finest purveyor of big, brash, and weirdly indestructible genre cinema. If you thought he was quietly fading out, think again. Not only has he got '23 Years Later: Return to Zombie Island' (yep, really) bubbling away—a callback to his 2003 'House of the Dead'—he’s also making plenty of noise about sequels and spin-offs. Unsurprisingly, Citizen Vigilante 2 is now the front-runner for his next release, and honestly, it’s all sorts of 'how is this happening?' but here we are.
Citizen Vigilante 2—Already Lined Up
The first Citizen Vigilante—starring Armie Hammer—managed to get itself noticed for all kinds of reasons. There’s the usual Boll mayhem, plenty of controversy, and a healthy level of online buzz, to the point that Boll’s already talking about the sequel before the dust has settled. Even more telling, there’s a release window confirmed, which for Boll, means things are moving fast.
And who’s in the mix for round two? Step forward Gina Carano. Yes, that Gina Carano. Boll dropped her name on the PBD Podcast, side-stepping any subtlety: 'I would totally put her in it. She got cancelled, unjustified, and came back. She’s a good actress and she would be kicka**. I feel the second part should have a few guys, maybe not only one person.'
Gina Carano—Would-Be Sequel Star
Just to clarify the backstory here: Carano's still one of the most recognisable faces in women’s MMA, and has leaned right in on the physical roles—think 'Haywire', 'The Mandalorian', and so on. Of course, all that’s been slightly overshadowed by her exit from 'Star Wars' back in 2021. Lucasfilm cut ties after a run of social media fallout, capped off by a post comparing US political divisions to pre-Holocaust Germany, which went down about as badly as you’d expect.
Carano ended up suing Disney and Lucasfilm, backed by a legal fund set up by Elon Musk, and argued her views had cost her her job. There was a bit of legal wrangling, but the case never hit trial—they settled out of court and that’s as much as anyone's saying.
The Citizen Vigilante Reaction (and Non-Reaction)
- Controversy: The original Citizen Vigilante became infamous for its depiction of migrant criminals and vigilante violence. Germany’s ratings board even refused to classify it. Boll reckons it was a deliberate act of censorship: 'And I think they did that on purpose. It was a deliberate censorship decision. I hired a lawyer to complain about it, but we lost in a six-two vote as I was told that the film was inciting violence against migrants.'
- Release strategy: Not one for subtlety, Boll later made the film free to watch on X (formerly Twitter), with a shout-out from Elon Musk himself, driving even more online debate—quite a trick for a small-budget Euro thriller.
- Critical response: The result? Critics have savaged it—6% on Rotten Tomatoes. But Boll’s got a point to prove and audience numbers in his favour; he prefers to quote the 93% audience score (and a 4.5-star rating on Amazon, because why not?). As Boll put it to The Wrap: '94% on Rotten Tomatoes or 4.5 on Amazon shows that the audience loves the film.'
What Carano Would Mean for the Sequel
Bringing Carano into Citizen Vigilante 2 won’t suddenly cover the film in prestige, but it does fit the direction things are clearly going. For Boll, it’s not really about softening the film’s image. In fact, this casting would become part of the message—deliberate, provocative, and courting all the headlines (again). Carano on board would follow her recent reappearance alongside Ronda Rousey in Netflix’s MMA drama, adding to her own public comeback.