Snake Eyes hasn’t even hit screens yet and we’re already talking about a follow-up. To be fair, the G.I. Joe reboot is an origin story that tells the tale of the franchise’s enigmatic hero, Snake Eyes. It naturally leans into setting up the future.

“I think now that we’ve done him justice in his becoming, it’s seeing where he goes,” says Golding in answer to what he wants to explore for his eponymous character in the future. He’s chatting to Fandom ahead of the release of the latest big-screen G.I. Joe adaptation. “It’s seeing how good he gets — because it’s only up from here — but it’s also the relationships he makes. We’re yet to see Timber Wolf and we’re yet to see if there’s a romance that happens within the Joes, or whatever — those are slight nods from the comic book stuff.”

Timber, if you don’t know, is Snake Eyes’ wolf companion – a character we’d love to see brought to life in the rebooted franchise because, well, animals are good. Plus, he’s a loyal and highly effective sidekick. The Battle Cat to Snake Eyes’ He-Man. Romantically, Snake Eyes has been linked to G.I. Joe operative Scarlett – who is introduced in the movie, played by Samara Weaving.

“We’re excited to see how this film does and hopefully it does enough that people want more,” adds Golding.

There will likely be an appetite for more, particularly since the film does a decent job of setting up the next steps for some key characters in its closing moments.

Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow: A Troublesome Brotherhood

Snake Eyes introduces terrorist organization Cobra as the bad guys and spotlights the Arashikage clan, a family-like guild of ninjas who take in and train the titular mysterious outsider. The movie builds in plenty of mythology bringing a depth to the world we see on screen that we’re itching to know more about. Sitting down with the cast of Snake Eyes – Henry Golding; alongside Andrew Koji, who plays Snake Eyes’ ever-popular sometimes-foe sometimes-ally Storm Shadow; Úrsula Corberó, who plays Cobra agent The Baroness; and Haruka Abe, who plays new character Akiko – we asked them to take us deeper into the G.I. Joe screen universe.

Golding cites the way the film introduces Cobra as one of his favourite aspects: “It was done and was written in a way that it wasn’t in your face … which leaves you yearning for more and knowing the next [film] is just going to blow it out of the water and grow everything exponentially in the universe.” But he says it’s exploring the complex relationship between Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow that is critical to the movie and whatever comes next. Golding is excited to explore a shared comic-book history that positions the characters as allies, then enemies, then allies again.

“When you watch the movie, you realise the strength of bond that they’ve built and that’s really important moving forward because you need to understand the mechanics of who they are as people, but also why it’s so intense and why it means so much to them. I think moving on from this movie, to be able to explore more of that but with different dynamics is the exciting part,” he says.

G.I. Joe fans will know that Storm Shadow winds up joining Cobra. However, given that Snake Eyes sees him building a brotherly bond with Snake Eyes and teaming up within the Arashikage Clan to fight a common foe – each with a different personal agenda – it’s interesting to know which side the fandom prefers to see him on. We polled our Joepedia community, and at the time of writing 65% preferred to see Storm Shadow – aka Tommy – on the side of Cobra. Boo hiss.

“Yin and Yang. The Arashikage Clans balance between good,evil, right, wrong, selflessness, and selfishness. And I’d certainly love to see Timber and Storm Shadows canine equivalent in the film too.” — G.I. Joe community member, DaleJ74

“You can’t have a yin without the yang,” agrees Golding. “I think this is probably the most troublesome brotherhood written in any element of comic books and one of the most iconic, so to have them waver once in a while and fight for the same cause, I love that. But you can’t have that if they’re both on the same side the entire time because that’s the excitement and the joy … You can’t have them on the same side. It’s not as exciting as when they do finally arrive together for a particular thing — that’s where it’s like, ‘Oh, my god, this is amazing!’”
Brainwashing
Snake Eyes Storm Shadow Andrew Koji
Storm Shadow: Travelling in style.

In the comics, the relationship between Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow, as in the film, is complex — although we see Storm Shadow defect to Cobra, we do see the duo come together again. Storm Shadow actor Andrew Koji was delighted to hear the community’s verdict. “We can take that going forward,” he says, suggesting they won’t shy away from exploring the character’s darker side in future movies. Like the fandom and Golding, he also believes it makes things more interesting when Storm Shadow is aligned with Cobra: “There’s more turmoil, maybe, going on inside him. I think that’s maybe what is more interesting — the layers that you can do going into it.”

“It’s important to understand that Snake Eyes the movie is an origin point of the silent master and Storm Shadow; having his life saved by Snake Eyes is extremely critical in this story. Their brotherhood could build up to be better and stronger together rather than separate and full of hate and divided.” — G.I. Joe community member, Cordell Mitchell

Koji adds, “Going forward, there’s a lot I’d be interested to know. The interesting thing would be to explore the shades of grey, not just the black and the white … the further he goes inside the conflict, the more conflicted and turmoiled he is — but I think he was brainwashed as well at one point. There’s a whole tapestry of stuff you could go into.”

Indeed – and with the MCU currently obsessed with mind control, we wouldn’t be surprised if the G.I. Joe franchise also went there. Somewhere else Koji would like to see the sequel switch up is his costume.

“I’d like to see him in a different look. I’d like to see him in the hood look, the bow, and arrow,” he says.
Sequel Clues

Keep Reading ---> https://fandom.com.ng/henry-golding-wants-timber-wolf-and-romance-in-snake-eyes-sequel/