I was typing up another response to Adonis about a Leon (The Professional) sequel in the comments section, but I thought I’d make it a post instead and encourage others to jump in.

The idea of a Leon sequel is something that fills me with dread. The reasons are not new and they are plentiful. From the quality of Besson’s work since those early days, to the fact that Mathilda AND Leon was the magic of the film, to have one without the other would be disappointing.

But a bigger issue for me, and what I was writing in response to Adonis, is that I don’t want to see Mathilda kicking ass as a hit woman. Not only is it boring and played out, but it fires 2 to the chest and 1 to the head of the first film. Mathilda shows Leon a glimpse of a real life and his heartbreaking goodbye speech underlines the lesson learned – if he gets out of there he wants to give it all up, live in peace, have roots.

Mathilda is often confused as already being a killer, but even the directors cut shows her as just a kid, a damaged kid for sure, but that’s part of what makes the character so great. She wasn’t some kind of fantasy Hitgirl type of character. She was real.

To have a sequel drop in on Mathilda as an ass kicking adult would surely undermine the first film. That’s not to say a sadder version of a damaged hit woman couldn’t be interesting, hell that was my (unfinished) attempt at a follow up, but based on Besson’s recent work (including the unofficial sequel, Columbiana) I think we’d get something more “cool” and generic.

If we HAD to catch up with Mathilda, I’d actually prefer a straight up drama. A young woman trying to lead a normal life but scarred by her experiences as a child. Come to think of it, maybe I should just think of Closer as the continuation of the character. No knives and guns but probably even more brutal than The Professional.