“The Mother” had Netflix’s best start of 2023 so far and has topped the streaming service’s internal charts ever since. Netflix has not yet announced a sequel, but it is of course obvious that such a successful film will be discussed. The participants themselves even have a clear idea what kind of film “The Mother 2” should be:
“The Mother 2” = “The Daughter”?!
Leading actress Jennifer Lopez already told the trade magazine on the sidelines of the world premiere of the film , that in her opinion a sequel should be titled “The Daughter”. – and thus naturally focuses on the twelve-year-old daughter of an ex-elite soldier and assassin played by Lucy Paez. Paez also agrees: if there is a sequel, it will definitely be The Daughter.
“The Daughter” would be a consistent sequel
Such a turn actually makes sense. By the end of The Mother, Jennifer Lopez’s unnamed protagonist has taught her daughter Zoe (Paez) everything it takes to survive. So it is Zoe who fires the last shot to kill villain Adrian (Joseph Fiennes). Although the girl is subsequently returned to her adoptive family, she now has the skills to defend herself. She could use it in a sequel.
Several stories are possible. You could clearly deviate from the original and, for example, show how Zoe picks apart some burglars who unsuspectingly want to see their family. But of course a reversal of the scenario of the first part is also conceivable, so that Zoe now has to save her mother. Finally you’ll hardly want to miss out on superstar Lopez, even in a sequel focused on the daughter.
“The Mother 2” with return of a dead villain?
The question then, of course, is who is targeting Zoe and her mother this time. Surely you can just dig up vengeful siblings, friends, etc. of the villains Adrian and Hector (Gael García Bernal) – or will you bring one of them back?
Adrian is pretty obviously dead after the finale, but what about hector He was sliced open early on by the eponymous mother and then left behind in a giant explosion, but we never see his corpse.
An old movie law says: As long as we haven’t seen the corpse, a character can always return. Especially since in this movie, even with Adrian, the other villain also survives an explosion in the beginning and it’s surprising anyway why such a prominent actor like Bernal has such a miniscule role. Granted, it would be a bit far-fetched, but that’s rarely bothered anyone in genre cinema when it comes to bringing back characters from the realm of the dead.
Finally, the question remains whether Adrian or Hector is Zoe’s biological father. “The Mother” actually makes a very clear point in being presented as completely irrelevant. But fans are already speculating online about what speaks for one or against the other. That could entice those in charge to focus on the question, which is not really exaggerated at the moment. And the easiest way to do that, of course, is with the appearance of a character asking for answers, as Hector would.