Eastern Promises 2.  It’s finally happening, folks!  Viggo Mortensen and Vincent Cassel are officially on board to reprise their roles and Cronenberg will again be directing from a script by Steven Knight*.

[The sequel] picks up where the 2007 film left off — with the incompetent underboss Kirill (Cassel) thinking that he and his henchman driver Nikolai (Mortensen) really have inherited the throne from his crime-lord father, without knowing that Nikolai is actually a clandestine agent working undercover in Russia’s Federal Security Service.

Fantastic!  Looks like David didn’t want to wait for Robert Pattinson to be available before plopping down in the director’s chair again, although I wouldn’t be surprised if Maps To The Stars shoots sometime next year as well.  Eastern Promises 2 (which is not the official title) should shoot in early 2013 once Viggo completes production on an adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s The Two Faces of January**.  No word yet on other returning actors from the first.  Given that her arc seemed fairly complete though, I’m betting Naomi Watts will not be appearing this time ’round.

Feel the wrath of Viggo's Mortensen!

Source |Vulture

* – Who was at one point rumored to helm this and just recently completed his Jason Statham-starring directorial debut, Hummingbird (2013).

** – Screenwriter Hossein Amini’s (Drive) directorial debut