While it's obvious that Channing Tatum will no longer return to star in "G.I. Joe 3" following his statement in an interview with Howard Stern, the movie is still reportedly moving forward, this time with Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson taking over the franchise.
"The baton was passed and Roadblock became 'the man' when it comes to the G.I. Joe team," Cinema Blend claimed. "Which was contrary to the canon of the classic 1980's A Real American Hero cartoons and comic books.
Adding that, "Thus, the G.I. Joe film franchise, for all intents and purposes, is now a Dwayne Johnson franchise."
And in a separate interview with Screen Rant, franchise producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura admitted that the former WWE star turned actor is indeed taking over the franchise.
"The last movie was really the set up, in a way, for Roadblock to take over," di Bonaventura explained. "Dwayne came aboard a little late last time so we weren't able to do everything I think we can do this time, and really get a story that services what the audience expects out of him, and also as an actor pushes him into areas that you wouldn't normally explore in a big franchise movie perhaps."
Furthermore, "G.I. Joe 3" is reportedly getting some overhauling when it comes to plotting the story.
"The hardest thing in film, I think, is to reduce something to something simple," di Bonaventura added. "You want it to be smart, you want it to have all this complexity, you want to do all these things which sometimes makes it all so confusing. (...) This time we have a very clear, very defined, tight idea that I wish I had on every sequel I've ever worked on. Simple's the hardest to get to."
And while other casting details have remained to be underwraps, director Jon Chu, who's set to return for "G.I. Joe 3" teased fans about the possibility of returning characters in an interview with MTV.
"You never know, Storm Shadow died in the first one and came back in the second one, and then other characters have died and never come back," Chu revealed. "The 'G.I. Joe' world, the best thing about it is you never know who's coming back and who's not."
