Movies
This was Van Damme’s idea to return to ‘The Expendables’ saga even though his character was dead
Van Damme liked the Expendables saga so much that he wanted to return as the twin of his character in a new installment.
The arrival of Jean-Claude Van Damme to the saga ‘The Expendables’ in its second part was something very celebrated by the fans of the actor, despite his status as villain in it. And is that although Stallone offered him a role for the first film that the Belgian refused, he continued to count on him for “The Expendables 2′, where he was Jean Vilain, the antagonist. As often happens in many action movies, his character died during this second part... although this did not prevent Van Damme from half jokingly, half seriously proposing his return in ‘The Expendables 3′ when it had not yet been released. JCVD wanted to appear in the third installment as Claude Vilain, the twin brother of his character from the second film.
Van Damme’s strange idea to return to Sylvester Stallone’s ‘The Expendables′ franchise
Although Jean-Claude Van Damme turned down the role Stallone personally offered him for ‘The Expendables’ (2010), he gladly accepted a second offer for its sequel, this time not as a hero, but as a villain. And he liked the experience of working with so many other action movie legends like Jason Statham, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis or Dolph Lundgren so much that he considered doing it again in a future movie.
But there was one big problem. Jean Vilain, his character who was the “bad guy” in this second movie, died at the hands of Barney Ross (Stallone). How could he return in a future installment? Simple: as his twin brother. Jean-Claude Van Damme commented on this during the premiere of “The Expendables 2′ in August 2012: Mr. Stallone is an inventive man. “He may even create a stronger character than Claude Vilain, the twin brother of Jean Vilain. Some fans ask me if the next Vilain - if there is a next - is going to be a good guy or a bad guy. I would leave it to Mr Stallone to decide.”
In the end it was not the case, the role of the villain in ‘The Expendables 3′ went to Mel Gibson and Van Damme was nowhere to be seen. But JCVD did not give up, and in 2020, before the release of ‘The Expendables 4′, the Belgian star commented on his Facebook and Instagram a very strange idea for a new ‘The Expendables’ movie called ‘Expendables: Young Blood’, in which he would play Claude Vilain, who would train a new generation of mercenaries to fight alongside the veterans mercenaries of Stallone and company. He also talked about his intention to give roles to Kris and Bianca, his two children who have also tried their hand at action movies.
In this Instagram post, he directly refers to Sylvester Stallone and Avi Lerner, the producer of ‘The Expendables’ franchise, so it was a full-fledged offer. This strange idea is not only a reference to his own stage name, but also a very clear reference to the not few occasions in which Van Damme has played twin brothers throughout their extensive filmography, in productions such as ‘Double Impact’ (1991) or ‘Maximum Risk’ (1996).
At the very least, it was an original idea that would fit in with the actor’s other projects, in which he has also played various characters with the twin brother excuse or the like, although this second appeal to Stallone did not bear fruit; ‘The Expendables 4′ was released in 2023 with Andy Garcia and Iko Uwais as the villains, and it was a box office flop. It cost $100 million to make and only grossed $51 million, so it’s likely that this huge blip effectively killed the franchise. For this reason, it is possible that not only will we never see Van Damme in this saga again, but also no other actor.