The Old Guard 2: A Sequel That Feels Like Half a Story
We still remember watching The Old Guard for the first time back in 2020. We were deep in lockdown, probably on our third loaf of banana bread, and just trying to escape into any world that wasn’t our own. Amid the endless scroll of pandemic streaming, The Old Guard wasn’t just good, it was a standout. An action film with soul, found-family vibes, and queer love that didn’t tiptoe around itself.
We still remember it like it was yesterday. Everyone was talking about the film, fan art of the characters flooded social media, and when Netflix announced a sequel, we weren’t surprised, just excited. What we didn’t expect was to have to wait five whole years for that sequel to arrive. Honestly, that’s a long wait, even for immortals.
Now that The Old Guard 2 has finally dropped (it premiered on July 2), we’re back in the fight—but this time, with more questions than answers. Was it worth the wait? We’d say yes… but we’d also be lying if we said we’re totally satisfied. The film has some genuinely exciting moments, but it also doesn’t completely live up to the hype.
Don’t get us wrong: there’s a lot to love in this new installment. The world of the immortals expands in bold, exciting ways, and we’re always happy to reunite with Andy (Charlize Theron), Nile (Kiki Layne), Joe (Marwan Kenzari), Nicky (Luca Marinelli), Booker (Matthias Schoenaerts), and Copley (Chiwetel Ejiofor). But as much as this film gave us, it also left us wanting more. And not in a satisfying cliffhanger kind of way. More like, “Wait… that’s it?”
Unlike its predecessor, which ended on a satisfying note while still leaving room for more, this sequel offers no such luxury. The Old Guard 2 ends not just open-ended, but incomplete. It leaves us twiddling our thumbs, wondering if we’ll ever get the payoff this story seems to be building toward. And with Netflix’s greenlighting policies being as fickle as they are (hello, viewing hours), nothing feels guaranteed.
But before we go deeper, here’s your spoiler warning. We’re about to get into the thick of it, so if you haven’t watched The Old Guard 2 yet, pause here and come back when you’re ready.
The Old Guard 2: More Lore, More Immortals, and a Lot of Unresolved Plot Threads
Picking up a few months after the events of the first film, The Old Guard 2 kicks off with Andy, Nile, Joe, Nicky, and Copley on a mission in Croatia. Andy is still grappling with her new mortality, Nile is settling into the immortal life, and Joe and Nicky are still very much in love—though a little emotionally distant this time around. What starts as a mission to dismantle an arms operation quickly morphs into something much bigger, involving a mysterious woman named Discord (Uma Thurman), who Nile has been dreaming about. We soon learn that Discord is not just any immortal, she’s the first immortal. And she has an agenda.
Meanwhile, Quynh (Ngô Thanh Vân) makes her dramatic return after centuries of underwater imprisonment by kidnapping Booker. She’s angry, she’s hurting, and she’s after Andy, who failed to keep the promise to never stop looking for her. What follows is a tangled web of betrayal, ancient secrets, and emotional reckonings. The film gives us revelations galore: Nile is the last immortal, which apparently comes with some intense, possibly world-shifting powers; Booker gives up his immortality to restore Andy’s and sacrifices himself for her (yes, he dies!); and Discord is on a mission to reclaim her lost power by any means necessary.
It’s all very epic on paper—but in execution, the film stumbles.
As we already mentioned, this is mainly because all of this feels like setup. The story doesn’t conclude; it pauses, abruptly, like we hit the intermission without realizing we were only halfway through. The Old Guard 2 feels like the first half of a much larger story. And again, if a third film had already been confirmed, we’d probably feel more forgiving. But with no official news as of this writing, we’re stuck in sequel limbo, wondering whether we’ll ever get the resolution we’ve now been promised.
Queer Representation, Action, and Emotional Stakes—What Hits and What Misses
There’s no denying that the lore expansion in The Old Guard 2 is cool. We loved meeting Tuah (Henry Golding), the immortal scholar who documents the group’s centuries of heroics, and the mythology around Nile’s powers is intriguing. But with all the new elements being introduced, the film sacrifices some of the emotional cohesion that made the first one so strong. The group doesn’t feel quite as bonded this time around, and many of the returning characters—especially Joe and Nicky—are pushed to the side.
And that brings us to something that really matters to us: the queer rep.
One of the reasons The Old Guard hit so hard back in 2020 was because it gave us an unapologetic, romantic, deeply humanized queer love story in the middle of a gritty action film. Joe and Nicky weren’t side characters. They were the emotional core. And yes, we get one vulnerable conversation between them in this sequel, but it’s quiet, restrained, and lacking the intensity we hoped for. There’s no kiss. Just a forehead touch. And while emotional connection matters deeply, we also need physical affection—especially in a genre that still so rarely gives it to queer couples. Queer representation in action films needs to be bold and visible. We want to see more of them, not less.
And it’s not just Joe and Nicky either. There’s heavy subtext between Andy and Quynh, and anyone familiar with the comics knows their bond is explicitly romantic. But the film keeps that thread frustratingly vague. Their reunion is powerful, but not explicitly queer. With so little sapphic representation in action stories like this, it feels like a missed opportunity. We’re hopeful there’s more to come if we get a third film, but it’s hard not to feel like something’s being held back.
As for the filmmaking itself, it’s hit or miss. The action sequences don’t quite live up to the tight, brutal choreography of the first film, and the visual effects sometimes pull us out of the moment. Dialogue can be clunky and overly expository, and the pacing feels uneven, dragging in some places, racing in others. For a film with such a stellar cast, it struggles to give them all something meaningful to do, and too many characters feel underused.
So where does that leave us? Honestly, conflicted. We’re still big fans. This universe has so much potential, and we’re invested in these characters, this mythology, and the possibilities that lie ahead. We’re eager to see where Nile’s powers lead, what Discord’s ultimate plan is, and how Andy and Quynh’s relationship evolves now that they’re back on the same side. But we’re also a little frustrated. The Old Guard 2 isn’t a bad film. It’s just an incomplete one. And after five years, we were hoping for more than a glorified setup.
We need that third film. The Old Guard 2 simply doesn’t stand on its own, and its unresolved ending leaves too much hanging. It’s a bridge, not a destination. And while it’s a bridge we’re happy to walk across, we’re going to be pretty upset if it just drops off into nothing.
So here’s hoping we’ll be back soon to tell you that The Old Guard 3 is officially happening. But until then, we’re holding our breath. Because immortals or not, waiting this long for closure kind of sucks.
The Old Guard 2 is available to stream on Netflix. Follow us on X and Instagram for all queer stuff!
Featured Image: Courtesy of Netflix
