Nicolas Cage & John Travolta Returning For Face/Off 2?

Director Adam Wingard confirms that the original movie's star duo are keen on a Face/Off follow-up.

by Andrew Pollard
Face Off Travolta Cage
Paramount Pictures

While last month saw director Adam Wingard confirm that Paramount’s upcoming new Face/Off movie will be a direct sequel to John Woo’s 1997 offering, the belief was that neither Nicolas Cage or John Travolta would be involved in the film. Well, it looks as if the pair may be back in the saddle, after all.

Speaking to Showbiz Cheat Sheet, Wingard – currently promoting the imminently-arriving Godzilla vs. Kong – revealed that both Cage and Travolta have shown interest in reprising their respective roles of Castor Troy and Sean Archer.

Explaining how Troy and Archer are pivotal to this Face/Off sequel, Wingard said:

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“To me, Face/Off isn’t about a procedure or anything like that. It’s not around the world that the characters exist in. It’s about Sean Archer and it’s about Castor Troy. That’s what the movie is about. It’s the continuation of that story.”

In the 1997 original, audiences saw Cage as the villainous terrorist Castor Troy, with Travolta hot on his heels as FBI Agent Sean Archer. After Troy ends up in a coma, the call is made for Archer to surgically swap faces with this nefarious sort in order to go undercover. Of course, Troy wakes up and soon takes on the persona of Archer – with both men trying to destroy the other’s life!

At this stage, Adam Wingard is putting this Face/Off follow-up’s script together with long-time collaborator Simon Barrett. The pair have previously worked together on the impressive A Horrible Way to Die, the stunning You’re Next home invasion/slasher picture, the brilliant Dan Stevens-headlined The Guest and opinion-splitting, so-so Blair Witch.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.