From a sudden car accident to a disgraced Hollywood producer, there are several shocking
reasons why "Kill Bill Vol. 3" never materialized — and why there's a good chance it never will.
"Kill Bill Vol. 1" is the only one of Quentin Tarantino's movies to get a sequel — so why
hasn't it received a threequel? If you're looking for a simple answer,
it's that Tarantino is waiting for his stars to grow up a bit. From the very beginning,
Tarantino has said that his plan for a potential "Vol. 3" requires the actors
from the original films to be at least 15 years older — not just the adults like
Uma Thurman and Daryl Hannah, but also child actors Perla Haney-Jardine and Ambrosia Kelley.
The longer and more complicated answer is that Tarantino's style has evolved over the last
two decades — and the projects he's made more recently look very different from "Kill Bill."
"Death Proof" — part of the 2007 double-feature experiment "Grindhouse" — was the last of his
films to have a certain "Kill Bill" vibe, mostly due to the performance of Thurman's
stunt double Zoe Bell as a fictionalized version of herself. From 2009 onward,
however, he moved forward with a very different series of revenge films, rewriting historical
atrocities with "Inglourious Basterds," "Django Unchained" and "Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood."
A focus on the literary rather than the visionary has consumed Tarantino's output in the last decade
— from the drawing room drama of "The Hateful Eight" to his novelization of "Once Upon a Time...
in Hollywood." As his self-imposed career clock is ticking down, it seems a strong possibility that
another "Kill Bill" sequel just isn't something that interests Tarantino very much anymore.
Journalists have been asking Quentin Tarantino about a possible "Vol. 3" for two decades,
and the famously gabby director has happily obliged and gleefully fueled the rumors. In 2004,
he referred to the possible series as his take on Sergio Leone's "Dollars" trilogy, and claimed
that his initial plan was to make a sequel every ten years. Once ten years had actually passed,
though, things had changed. While promoting "The Hateful Eight" in 2015, Tarantino told Variety —
"I’m not committing to it, but I wouldn’t be surprised if The
Bride made one more appearance before the whole thing is said and done."
Tarantino has also repeatedly stated that he
will direct only ten films. Once he completes that tenth and final film,
he will apparently retire from making movies. With every new release in the last few years,
he's gotten closer to that self-imposed cut-off — and unless he breaks his vow or finds a loophole,
it looks less and less likely that "Kill Bill: Vol. 3" will be included in his filmography.
The "Kill Bill" films are all about revenge, and they center around an important ethical
question. Is the desire to seek retribution — to finish unfinished business — ever justified,
or merely a justification? Beatrix Kiddo sets out to destroy the people who destroyed her life,
but she kills an awful lot of other people along
the way. Bill even calls her out on it during their final confrontation.
"All those people you killed to get to me… felt damn good, didn't they?"
"Yes."
The Bride sliced through dozens of O-ren Ishii's bodyguards not for some
high-minded act of cosmic balance, but because she enjoyed doing it.
According to Tarantino, a third film would pick up the revenge theme for a
new generation. Nikki Bell — daughter of former Deadly Viper Assassination Squad member Vernita
Green — seeks revenge against The Bride for the death of her mother. Raised and trained
by the treacherous Sofie Fatale — whom Beatrix left maimed but alive — Nikki would set out for
her own righteous vengeance, facing The Bride along with her now-grown daughter B.B. Kiddo.
"You can take my word for it… your mother had it coming."
Back in 2007, series producer E. Bennett Walsh told the audience at the Shanghai Film Festival
that the third — and potentially fourth — film might also feature a pair of former
henchmen from the first movie seeking their own revenge against The Bride.
The first two "Kill Bill" films leave precious few characters alive by the end,
but there are a few actors that would be expected to return in a follow-up. First and foremost,
of course, is Beatrix Kiddo herself: Uma Thurman. Julie Dreyfus could also return as Sofia Fatale,
as well as Daryl Hannah as The Bride's nemesis Elle Driver — left blinded but
alive at the end of "Kill Bill: Vol. 2." Several actors from the films
have sadly died in the last two decades, including David Carradine and Sonny Chiba.
The real question is who would play the now-grown B.B. and Nikki. Part
of Quentin Tarantino's plan to wait 15 years was to give actor Ambrosia
Kelley time to grow up. In 2004, he told Entertainment Weekly —
"It's exciting to know that somewhere there's a little girl who'll grow up to be my leading lady."
However, Kelley hasn't acted on screen since 2012 — and in 2023, Vivica A. Fox said in an interview
with Variety that her dream casting for the role of Nikki would be Zendaya. As for B.B.,
Perla Haney-Jardine remains active in the business, and even had a small role
in "Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood." In recent years, though, a different candidate has emerged:
Thurman's real-life daughter Maya Hawke, who's become a star in her own right.
Quentin Tarantino has developed a routine company of sorts over the years — and for a while,
Uma Thurman was not just a company player, but a muse and collaborator
of the director. The two of them developed the character of The Bride while working
together on "Pulp Fiction" — after all, the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad sounds an
awful lot like the crime-fighting team in Mia Wallace's TV pilot "Fox Force Five."
"Fox, as in we're a bunch of foxy chicks. Force,
as in we're a force to be reckoned with. And five, as in there's one, two, three, four, five of us."
However, Thurman and Tarantino have not worked together since "Kill Bill: Vol. 2" came out in
2004 — and more than a decade later, one of the possible reasons why came to light. In a 2018
profile in The New York Times, Thurman stated that Tarantino had coerced her into doing an
unauthorized automobile stunt. Instructed to drive a convertible down a winding path in Mexico at 40
miles per hour, Thurman lost control of the car and ran off the side of the road, resulting in
a concussion and damage to her knees. Footage of the accident was released online after the story
dropped — footage which, according to Thurman, Tarantino had fought for years to keep private.
In an Instagram post accompanying the profile, Thurman acknowledged that Tarantino finally
allowed her to release the footage and said that he feels remorseful about the incident.
Even after making amends personally, the two have yet to collaborate again.
In the Instagram post featuring footage of Uma Thurman's wreck,
she wrote that while she feels the negligent stunt itself was not done with malicious intent,
the 15-year cover-up of the accident very much was an act of malice. Thurman laid the
blame not at Quentin Tarantino, but squarely at the feet of producers Lawrence Bender,
E. Bennett Walsh, and Harvey Weinstein. That wasn't the only thing she accused Weinstein of,
either. In the 2018 New York Times profile, Thurman claimed that Weinstein sexually assaulted
her on two different occasions in the '90s — and he threatened to end her career when she
confronted him over his actions. She wasn't the only one, as other high-profile stars like Mira
Sorvino and Salma Hayek also shared their harrowing stories with the powerful producer.
Weinstein ran the Disney-affiliated indie distributor Miramax and not only produced
both "Kill Bill" movies, but championed and nurtured Tarantino's career from the
very beginning. In return, Tarantino's works helped turn Miramax — and Weinstein
himself — into a Hollywood power player and a household name. Tarantino worked
with Weinstein on every one of his films from "Reservoir Dogs" to "The Hateful
Eight" in 2015 — and even though he has since distanced himself from the disgraced executive,
their longtime friendship casts a shadow over much of Tarantino's work.
"Kill Bill: Vol. 3" isn't the only long-awaited "Kill Bill" project that may never see the light
of day. The official narrative from Miramax and Quentin Tarantino has always been that the two
"Kill Bill" films were originally intended to be a single four-hour movie, but it was split
into two volumes in order to improve its chances at the box office. That may or may not be true:
after all, the two films are very different from each other in style — and other than
Uma Thurman, they have largely different casts. The idea that they were ever meant
to form one coherent film is slightly dubious — but nevertheless, Tarantino has dangled the
possibility of a combined feature called "The Whole Bloody Affair" for years.
As of 2023, there have only been two confirmed public screenings of "The Whole Bloody Affair."
One was at the Cannes Film Festival in 2004, and the other was a two-week run in 2011 at the New
Beverly Cinema — the Los Angeles theater owned by Tarantino. Reports from those screenings confirm
that the combined feature runs mostly the same as what the rest of the world already saw, but
with a few differences. The epic fight between The Bride and the Crazy 88 gang is presented entirely
in color, and certain key scenes and lines have been cut. Despite these tantalizing details,
there appear to be no plans to release it publicly again in theaters or on Blu-Ray and streaming.
In March 2023, Quentin Tarantino announced his next film, "The Movie Critic" — a '70s-set drama
about, you guessed it, a movie critic. When "The Movie Critic" comes out,
it will be Tarantino's tenth film — and his film career is supposedly finished
after that. If the director follows through, that means lights out for "Kill Bill: Vol. 3."
Tarantino reinforced this idea in July 2023 while doing an interview with the
Flemish newspaper DeMorgen. When asked if Maya Hawke could play The
Bride's daughter in a third "Kill Bill" film, the auteur replied —
"I don't see that. My last film is about a film critic, a male critic. And he plays in the '70s."
If you're looking for the last word on the subject, that seems pretty final.
However, don't give up all hope just yet, as Uma Thurman raised
an intriguing possibility when she was asked about it in 2022. She told Fox 5 New York —
"All I know is he's always said he's going to make 10,
but [...] it doesn't include if he does television."
Could "Vol. 3" show up as a streaming series at some point,
like Tarantino's expansion of "The Hateful Eight" for Netflix in 2019? We'll just
have to wait and see whether or not he's decided to pull a little trick on his fans.
"Silly rabbit."
"Trix are for—"
"Kids."
Even though rumors have circulated since 2004, it's been years since "Kill Bill:
Vol. 3" has had any significant movement. Maybe we actually will see it on the
big or small screen at some point, with aged-up stars Perla Haney-Jardine and
Ambrosia Kelley — or maybe Maya Hawke and Zendaya — at each other's throats.
Only time will tell at this point — but if the project never comes to pass,
it will at least be in good company. Tarantino seems to enjoy talking about films he will
never make as much as actually making films, and the last three decades are littered with
would-be features that never grew beyond his imagination. For every "Inglourious Basterds,"
there is a "Double V Vega," which would have brought together John Travolta and Michael
Madsen as their well-dressed "Pulp Fiction" and "Reservoir Dogs" characters. For every
"Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood" there is a '60s-set "Casino Royale" or an R-rated
"Star Trek" sequel that sparks speculation and excitement before fizzling and fading
away as he goes in a new direction. "Kill Bill: Vol. 3" may only ever exist in our
imaginations — but if it does happen against all odds, we know it'll be a bloody good time.