After a decades-long wait, it was 2006’s The Departed that earned Martin Scorsese his first Oscar win for Best Director, presented by the iconic trio of Coppola, Spielberg, and Lucas. Apart from Scorsese’s deserved victory, the thriller, based on the Hong Kong film Infernal Affairs, further swooped four accolades in the 79th Academy Award, including Best Picture.
But while Scorsese intended it to be a one-off thing, Mark Wahlberg, who starred as Sergeant Dignam, had ideas about continuing the story with a sequel, starring Brad Pitt and Robert De Niro.
Mark Wahlberg Once Pitched WB About Greenlighting The Departed 2
With Mark Wahlberg‘s character being the only one to make it out alive among the main cast, for a while, the actor insisted on getting the train on a potential sequel running. With writer William Monahan and the Pain & Gain star on the same page, Wahlberg revealed he had plans of incorporating Brad Pitt and even Robert De Niro in the sequel.
However, Wahlberg and Monahan botched the pitch for the sequel, as they headed to WB execs with no script in hand, thus the studio rejected the idea for the sequel.
Stopping by KFC radio, he said (via The Digital Fix):
“He [Monahan] assumed the studio would have the same response that everyone else did and let him go figure it out. But they like to have things well-thought out and planned, so that pitch didn’t go well,”
In hindsight, not moving forward with the sequel seems the right call on WB’s part for several reasons
No Martin Scorsese
Initially, WB itself leaned towards turning The Departed into a franchise, which Martin Scorsese was against, and his decision to kill off the majority of the characters didn’t sit right with the studio. So, it’s safe to say a potential sequel would’ve moved forward without the original director on board.
Collin Sulivan Is Dead
While on paper, a sequel seems right, as Internal Affairs was a trilogy in the Hong Kong version, the sequel revolves around the crooked police and expands on his inner conflict. But in Scorsese’s adaptation, Matt Damon’s Collin Sulivan ends up dying, thus closing that possibility.
Most of the Main Cast Is Dead
One of the film’s biggest highlights is witnessing the star-studded cast bouncing off each other and delivering impeccable performances, including DiCaprio, Damon, and Jack Nicholson. However, with most of their characters meeting end, a sequel might’ve failed to incorporate the same magic as the original.
It’s Too Late
Considering it has been almost two decades since the film was released, it’s safe to say that a major chunk of today’s audience might not even be aware of the original’s story. Following this, there’s a high chance a sequel to The Departed might not be able to do sufficient numbers if released.
Chances of Tainting the Original’s Legacy
Monahan’s idea for the sequel involved bringing back some of the actors, who bit the dust in the original. While it’s reasonable to see why they would want the original faces from the first film back, undoing the deaths of certain characters would have only diluted the impact of the first film.
Considering Scorsese saw the film as a one-off thing from the get-go and had no intentions of giving into the studio’s desire to make room for a franchise, The Departed is better left alone.
The Departed is available to stream on Apple TV.
