Two decades after Lord of War cast Nicolas Cage as one of cinema’s most unapologetic arms dealers, Yuri Orlov is back in business, and this time the competition is family. Vertical has released the first trailer for Lords of War, the long-gestating sequel to the 2005 crime drama, and confirmed a theatrical release date of January 22, 2027.
The plural in the title isn’t just branding. Set more than twenty years after the original, the sequel puts Bill Skarsgård in the role of Anton, Yuri’s son, who wants to build a weapons empire that eclipses his father’s. Where the first film followed Yuri profiting from the collapse of the Soviet Union and the flood of surplus weaponry that followed, the new story moves to America’s early conflicts in the Middle East. Father and son appear to be competing for the same market, moving guns and mercenaries to the front lines while trying to outmaneuver each other.
The footage is brief but makes the tone clear. There are explosions, deals going bad, and a growing personal feud that looks like it will drive most of the story. It’s also the first time Cage and Skarsgård have shared the screen, a pairing that seems well suited to a story about a dynasty whose inheritance happens to be lethal.
Andrew Niccol returns to write and direct, which is the most encouraging sign for fans of the original. The 2005 film earned praise for Cage’s performance and for its cynical look at how the global arms trade really works, but critics were less convinced by its sprawling structure. That split shows up in the reception, with an average critics’ score of 62% against 82% from audiences. The film found a longer life on home video and streaming, where its darkly comic narration and its famous opening sequence following a bullet from factory to target earned it a cult following.
Lords of War also marks a first for Cage’s career, becoming the first of his films to get a legacy sequel this long after the original. Speculation about National Treasure 3 continues, but the actor said last month that he hasn’t signed on to any new installment, which leaves this as the only one of his 2000s hits currently heading back to theaters.
The bigger question is whether Niccol can tighten the storytelling that held back the first film without losing its bite. Moving from the post-Soviet chaos of the 1990s to America’s wars in the Middle East gives the sequel plenty of material, and a generational rivalry could be the focus the original was missing.