With the huge box office success of Deadpool, buzz about the already-developing sequel is in full effect. So far all that is known for sure about the sequel is that it will feature the big-screen debut of fellow Rob Liefeld creation Cable, and that it will likely be one of a growing number of R-rated comic book movies to come, but beyond that fans can only guess about what the plot will involve.

Cable brings with him the real possibility of changing the tone of the movie and tying it in more directly with the rest of the X-Men cinematic universe. He is a pretty gruff, serious guy, a perfect straight man for the constantly quipping Merc with a Mouth. He is also the time-traveling son of the X-Men’s Cyclops, which makes for strong crossover potential. For those worried that Deadpool 2 will stray too far from the original, though, the movie’s writers have offered some reassurance that it won’t be the case.

In a video interview with Collider, Deadpool writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick talked about how their desire to keep the sequel’s budget on the lower end is one factor that will keep the movie from getting too far astray from what made the first movie so unique:

“I think there’s a real conceptual difference between taking other characters and big things and bringing them into Deadpool’s reasonably small, gritty world and the opposite, taking Deadpool and placing him among big ensembles who are fighting aliens or in the future where he and Cable are doing something in the future.

I think if Cable and Deadpool team up, it will likely be in Deadpool’s world. That allows us to control that budgetary thing a little more; I don’t think we’re gonna see Deadpool and Cable on some far-flung planet 300 years from now because I just feel like that’s gonna be expensive, A, and will also take away from the relatability of Deadpool. I think at this stage in the game it’s about taking other people and dropping them into this reasonably insular, gritty, urban, dark world of Deadpool.”

“We don’t want $150 million to go make the next movie, that’s not Deadpool. Deadpool doesn’t lift cities up into the air or battle aliens coming down to earth, that’s just not Deadpool. So we’re happy in that little small budget range that they have us in; we don’t wanna blow this next one out.”

The duo also discussed how the complicated nature of the X-Men movies’ timeline makes it difficult to plan which characters could appear in the next Deadpool movie - in large part because they would have to decide where in the timeline Deadpool fits, and whether that it would require older or younger versions of other characters (like Professor X, for example):

The X-Men crossover possibilities are certainly an interesting potential development for Deadpool’s cinematic future, but it is also nice to see that the writers are aware of some of the qualities that set his first big-screen outing apart from his bigger-budget frenemies, the X-Men. The success of the first movie means that its sequel could probably get whatever budget its producers want, but it seems like for now they are content to avoid the big, city-leveling CGI battles that have become commonplace in other comic book movies (including the upcoming Apocalypse at that).

“It’s a legal list but it’s also a creative list, because X-Men: Apocalypse has plans, they have plans for future X-Men movies, and we also have timeline issues. We have actors who are now playing the parts who are a younger generation, we have the older actors—where does Deadpool’s timeline fit in with the others? These are all things that Simon Kinberg worries about for the moment instead of us. Colossus was easy to do because he’s chrome and there was no live-action actor playing him, Negasonic was easy to do because she’s a very minor character, but if you start talking about Professor X or Beast you do start running into timeline issues and we’re gonna need guidelines on that.”

Deadpool is now in theaters. X-Men: Apocalypse will hit theaters on May 27, 2016; Gambit sometime in 2017; Wolverine 3 on March 3, 2017; and an unannounced X-Men film on July 13, 2018. The New Mutants is also in development. We’ll let you know when Deadpool 2 gets an official release date.

Source: Collider