During a recent interview with the KFC Radio podcast (via CinemaBlend), Mark Wahlberg talked about his interest in doing a sequel for “The Departed” after the first film did so well in the awards circuit, especially after it won best picture at the 2007 Academy Awards. As his character is one of the only main cast members to survive, Wahlberg and screenwriter William Monahan took a meeting with Warner Bros. that apparently did not work out like either hoped it would.
“They talked about that, they talked about a prequel, and then a sequel,” the “Uncharted” star said. “I went into a meeting with Bill Monahan at Warner Bros. to pitch the sequel to ‘The Departed,’ he wanted me to go with him. This was after it had won best picture, it was a big success and all that. Let’s just say the pitch didn’t go very well.”
Apparently, a big reason that the idea didn’t really endear itself to Warner Bros. is because Monahan didn’t have much of the story planned out at all. (It’s worth noting at this point that it’s unclear from Wahlberg’s story if this particular Monahan pitch came before or after his pitch to Martin Scorsese.) “He 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,” Wahlberg said.
While it’s certainly a shame that Wahlberg and Monahan did not get to make a sequel for “The Departed,” but the first film definitely still stands up as a great crime film without one.