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SPOILER WARNING: The following article contains major spoilers for A Working Man. If you’ve yet to watch the 2025 movie for yourself, please turn back now before an angry Jason Statham tracks you down (just kidding about the last part).
With the upcoming Fast & Furious 11 and the announced Beekeeper sequel on the way, it’s safe to say that Jason Statham is going to be a very busy guy for the foreseeable future. However, after watching A Working Man, which dethroned Snow White during its first weekend at the box office, I think we could be looking at Statham’s next big action franchise.
Though critics haven’t been too excited about Statham’s most recent offering, originally titled Levon’s Trade (CinemaBlend’s official review didn’t necessarily sing its praises), the ending of A Working Man did leave the door open for future installments and might even provide a clue for where David Ayer’s franchise could go if everything works out. That said, let me break it all down.
What Happens During A Working Man’s Ending?
In A Working Man, Levon Cade (Jason Statham), a former Royal Marine Commando and current construction worker, is tasked with finding his boss’ college-age daughter after she is abducted by human traffickers. Starting in Chicago before expanding his search to surrounding areas, Levon (pronounced Levin) takes on low-level criminals, bikers, crooked cops, obscenely wealthy human traffickers, and the Russian mob.
In the end, Levon tracks down and saves Jenny Garcia (Arianna Rivas) from what can best be described as a clandestine casino and sex dungeon in a run-down mansion somewhere south of the Windy City. Taking out pretty much everyone responsible for the kidnapping, torture, and other sketchy stuff going on, Levon and Jenny survive the night and live to see another day. However, one loose end is left untied when Symon Kharchenko (Andrej Kaminsky), the leader of the Russian mafia, survives the onslaught and doesn’t get his wish to avenge his sons after they were killed by Cade.
But The Unfinished Business With The Russian Mob Could Lead To A Civil War (And More Problems For Levon)
If A Working Man ends up leading to more movies, I could totally see the unfinished business with Symon Kharchenko not only leading to more problems for Levon Cade (and his family) down the road but also a civil war within the criminal organization. At the end of the movie, when Symon calls the “War Council” to say that Levon survived the attack, he is told that the organization is going to let things be, which doesn’t go over too well with the grieving father, as you could imagine.
I’ve watched enough great action movies and gripping crime thrillers over the years to know that a parent consumed by grief and pain isn’t going to let things go, even if his allies tell him to lay low. This would be a great setup for a sequel or sequels for A Working Man as it would continue Levon’s story and his path towards a confrontation with Symon as well as continue to build the world around them, adding more stakes in the process.
There Will Also Surely Be Some Major Ramifications In Levon’s Personal Life After The Movie’s Events
Levon Cade makes a case for himself as being one of the most lethal characters the action genre has seen in quite some time, and he’s a caring father for his young daughter throughout the movie, but boy, he can’t stay out of trouble. Throughout the movie, he’s constantly going at it with his father-in-law, Dr. Jordan Roth (Richard Heap), who still holds Levon responsible for his daughter’s suicide. Though he does end up saving Dr. Roth when the Russian mob sets his house on fire and leaves the retired surgeon for dead, Levon is the reason they came there in the first place.
With all the high-dollar attorneys Dr. Roth used in the early part of the movie to make it pretty much impossible for Levon and his daughter to see each other, combined with the fact that he almost died because of the former Royal Marine Commando. It’s hard to imagine there won’t be some kind of ramifications for him after all the dust settles. I mean, that’s what the opening chapter of a sequel is all about, right?
It Also Feels Like Certain Characters Were Introduced To Be Expanded Later
Do you ever get the feeling that a movie will introduce a character and kind of hold back in hopes that they can be expanded in a sequel? Well, I experienced that with David Harbour’s Gunny Lefferty, one of Levon Cade’s old military buddies who lost his eyesight while fighting in a war. Though the wise-cracking and resourceful character has some incredibly powerful scenes, and he protects Levon’s daughter during the big climactic action sequence, I almost feel like we haven’t seen all he can do.
There’s a scene early on when Gunny, who can’t see anything, fires an arrow right next to Levon’s head. Another scene later on shows him detailing all these guns in specific locations without using his eyes. Yeah, he gets time to shine, but it feels like there’s much more to explore here.
This Could Become One Of Jason Statham’s Big Franchises Like The Beekeeper, The Transporter, And The Meg
I’m buzzing with excitement for The Beekeeper 2, but there’s enough room in my heart for more Jason Statham action franchises. Revisiting The Transporter before the release of A Working Man was a killer experience, and it got me wanting even more movies featuring the British action star moving forward. I think Levon Cade could be up there with the Frank Martins and the Adam Clays of the world, especially with the massive collection of books Chuck Dixon has written about the character.
You could fill up the entire schedule of upcoming book-to-screen adaptations with the adventures of Levon Cade, as there are 10 (and counting) entries in the series thus far. With so much source material and intense action sequences to explore, this could be huge! Who knows, maybe this could even lead to another addition to The Meg franchise.
But All Of This Depends On How A Working Man Performs At The Box Office
The only way A Working Man is going to get a sequel and turn this into the next Jason Statham franchise is for it to perform well at the box office. As mentioned above, it did well enough with audiences to take the top spot during the opening weekend with $15.5 million in receipts, according to Box Office Mojo.
While that’s not the best opener of Statham’s career, it was just $1 million less than what The Beekeeper pulled in its first weekend of release back in January 2024. According to Box Office Mojo, the David Ayer action flick ended its run at $162.6 million, which was enough to get a sequel. The pair’s latest outing isn’t guaranteed to get that far, but if it does, we could be looking at more Levon Cade in the future.
While I anxiously wait with bated breath for more information on A Working Man and its future as a franchise, there are a handful of upcoming action movies that will hold me over in the meantime.
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