Earlier this week Vin Diesel gave a casting update for XXX 3 by revealing that Samuel L. Jackson will be back for the planned movie, and the actor once again took to Facebook to announce that he and director David Twohy are aiming to start production on FURIA, the fourth installment in the RIDDICK film series, in early 2017.
In the video below, Diesel also said they've been talking about doing an origin story for Riddick, while Twohy is confident that the next entry will be rated R.
Posted by Vin Diesel on Tuesday, December 15, 2015
It's also been announced that Diesel has signed a multi-year, first-look production deal for his One Race banner with Universal Television, and that one of the first projects as part of the agreement will be a spinoff television series titled Merc City, which "will follow the Mercs and Bounty Hunters of the Riddick Universe."
“In addition to being a huge star for our feature division, Vin is a true creative force as a producer. After sitting down with him and his team at One Race Television, it’s clear he will now also be an incredible asset to both the network and our television studio” said Jennifer Salke, President, NBC Entertainment. “We feel really fortunate to be in business with, not only an international powerhouse, but a truly thoughtful and passionate producer.”
There's no guarantee though that either project will actually happen and, to be honest, I'm not sold on the idea of a Vin Diesel-less companion TV series, but I'm sure fans of the Riddick franchise will be (mostly) happy with this news.