KINGSMAN 2 Courts Julianne Moore as New Villain, and Colin Firth Reportedly Won't Be Back

Kingsman: The Secret Service was one of the most surprising films of last year. It barely missed sneaking onto my 10 favorite films of the year list, but it's a terrific piece of entertainment that I found to be better than any Bond movie. Apparently I wasn't the only one who walked out and immediately wanted to see a sequel; the movie was a surprise box office hit, and a sequel was quickly put into development with director Matthew Vaughn returning behind the camera and star Taron Egerton suiting up again in front of it.

THR reports that Oscar-winning actress Julianne Moore is in talks to play the new movie's villain, though a deal hasn't been signed just yet. No further details are available, but we previously heard that the action will move from the U.K. to the States. Another early rumor was that Vaughn was going to try to find a way for Colin Firth's character to come back. Spoilers for the first movie ahead, but that seemed like a difficult task considering he was brutally murdered in the original film. THR's story claims that discussions were had about bringing Firth back via a twin brother or in flashbacks, but their sources tell them that those ideas have been thrown out and at this point, Firth is not going to come back. As great as he was the first time around, that's probably a smart move.

Kingsman: The Secret Service 2 is set to begin filming this May and hit theaters on June 16th, 2017.