Now that Paramount has finally chosen Justin Bieber: Never Say Never director Jon Chu to helm the sequel to 2009's G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, bringing back the cast was the next logical step. However, Rachel Nichols, who played Scarlett in Rise of the Cobra revealed on her Twitter last night (via SlashFilm) that only a few characters would return for the sequel.
GI JOE 2 News Flash: The only characters to return in the JON CHU directed sequel will be SNAKE EYES, STORM SHADOW, and DUKE...
That means that screenwriters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick (Zombieland) have decided against bringing back Nichols, Marlon Wayans as Ripcord, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as Heavy Duty, Said Taghmaoui as Breaker, and even Dennis Quaid as General Hawk (Brendan Fraser, it's probably best not to keep your fingers crossed that your cameo as Sergeant Stone will be back).
Channing Tatum will presumably return as Duke, scheduling permitting, while Lee Byung-hun announced his return as Storm Shadow over a year before it was made official in January. That leaves Ray Park to reprise his role as Snake Eyes.
What this means for the Cobra side is unknown, however, given his increasingly busy schedule, it's unlikely that Joseph Gordon-Levitt will return as Cobra Commander, especially since The Dark Knight Rises will be shooting around the same time as G.I. Joe 2 (working title) and Gordon-Levitt reportedly has a role in the Batman sequel. Sienna Miller reportedly already confirmed that she wouldn't reprise her role as the Baroness, though whether Christopher Eccleston would return as Destro is unknown. Toy manufacturer Hasbro revealed last month that master of disguise Zartan (played in Rise of Cobra by Arnold Vosloo) would return.
Nichols further Tweeted that she wasn't pleased with the news of her character's exclusion, having just recently revealed that she was hoping to return for the sequel. "I haven’t even seen a script, but I would jump to do it in a second," Nichols told The New York Post.
Nichols isn't alone. In September of 2009, Quaid also revealed that he wanted to see more action and "get out of the Pit" in the G.I. Joe sequel. However, considering the fan's reaction to the first movie, it may be best that the sequel go in a different direction and introduce new characters to go along with the three remaining instead.
