47 Ronin 2 Sets Former WWE Star AJ Lee & Lucifer Actor To Write

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The sequel to 47 Ronin has found its writers, with former WWE star AJ Lee and Lucifer’s Aimee Garcia penning the script. Directed by Carl Rinsch, from a story by Chris Morgan and Walter Hamada, 47 Ronin premiered in 2013 and featured Keanu Reeves in the lead role. The movie served as a fictionalized account of the forty-seven rōnin, a real group of masterless samurai who worked together to confront their rival and avenge the death of Asano Naganori. Despite its origins, the story has little in common with the original historical tale. It is instead set in a world which includes witches and giants.

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Though praise was given to the action sequences, 47 Ronin received generally negative reviews. In terms of its box office, 47 Ronin grossed just $151 million against a budget that reportedly cost between $175-225 million. These numbers were considered a disappointment, and the fantasy epic was regularly cited as one of the biggest box office flops of 2013. Still, a sequel to 47 Ronin was announced in 2020. Now, with the news that the project has found its writers, we have a better sense of what the second installment will look like.

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According to Deadline, Universal 1440 has tapped AJ Mendez and Aimee Garcia to pen the script for the forthcoming 47 Ronin sequel which will be directed Ron Yulan. The duo is best-known for their appearances in front of the camera, as Garcia portrays Ella Lopez on the Netflix series Lucifer. As for Mendez, she appeared under the ring name of AJ Lee in WWE from 2010 until her retirement in April 2015. During her time with the company, she won the championship on three occasions and helped to break barriers in terms of how women’s wrestlers were perceived. Still, both Garcia and Mendez are accomplished writers who have previously collaborated on projects.

Mendez is the New York Times best-selling author of Crazy Is My Superpower, a memoir that detailed her upbringing and bipolar disorder. Together, they’ve written comics based on the wrestling drama series GLOW. They’re also the co-authors for IDW Publishing’s Dungeons and Dragons, in addition to a Wonder Woman story for DC Comics which will be released in July. In a statement, Mendez and Garcia promised that the sequel will prioritize diversity and inclusivity. Mendez noted, in particular, that the 47 Ronin will be a “multicultural story with powerful female leads.”

Mendez is no stranger to powerful female characters. Her run as AJ Lee provided WWE fans with a complicated and layered women’s wrestler that was, at the time, rare for wrestling audiences. Given that the duo is prioritizing a different angle with the 47 Ronin sequel, in terms of who will be at the center of the story, it should be interesting to see if the sequel is more warmly received than its predecessor. It’ll be interesting to see if Mendez’s wrestling background plays into the kind of setpieces that make it into the final cut.