It’s no secret movie lovers go crazy for vampire films. Whether violent and grotesque undead or drool-worthy, six-pack sporting bloodsuckers, we devour vampire movies like there’s no tomorrow, and the Underworld franchise is no exception. The franchise has been a staple since 2003, but diehard fans might be getting some bad news due to significant changes.
When the first movie, Underworld, aired with a $22 million budget, the film made a jaw-dropping $100 million worldwide despite receiving mixed reviews. A few bad reviews didn’t stop the producers’ momentum, and we were given four more installments. A franchise worthy of its salt was created, and lead star Kate Beckinsale’s career skyrocketed. She starred in four of the films, and to fans, she quickly became the face of the Underworld universe. Sadly, in 2018 during an interview with Variety, Beckinsale announced she wouldn’t be returning for any future Underworld films with a vague and blunt statement. “I wouldn’t return. I’ve done plenty of those.”
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If this is news to you, we feel your pain, and with rumors of Underworld 6 in the works, we’re panicking a little. Beckinsale’s character in the movies is a Death Dealer, or werewolf hunter, named Selene, whose story has remained at the forefront of the films’ plot. We know you’re trying to picture someone else in the iconic role, but it’s not easy, right?
Although Beckinsale’s reasons for giving up her role as a vampire bombshell are shrouded in mystery, we have a few theories. The first is that the actor has outgrown her role as Selene, but a more noteworthy theory is that Beckinsale parted ways with her husband, Len Wiseman, in 2016, a creator and producer of the Underworld films. The duo met during the first movie, and their divorce was announced after the last film’s completion in 2017. Wiseman is still a part of the franchise and even dropped us a gem in 2014 at New York’s Comic-Con that he wanted to take the franchise to the small screen and make it a TV series with new characters.
It’s been nine years since then, and we’ve heard nothing further on that front.
The Underworld Movies in Order
Sony Pictures Entertainment
The Underworld films have fed our thirst for top-quality vampire and werewolf movies for years. Its dark cinematography and thoroughly fleshed-out, easy-to-follow storyline, plus mind-blowing action scenes, have placed all the films in a category of their own. The first film’s synopsis and the pillar for the follow-up releases had Selene (Beckinsale) struggling to protect Michael (Scott Speedman), a human medical student being hunted by werewolves intent on creating a hybrid species.
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After Underworld was released in 2003, a prequel followed in 2006, Underworld: Evolution, which surpassed the first movie’s box office killing. In 2009, Beckinsale didn’t return for the third film, Underworld: Rise of the Lycans, but in 2012, she reprised her role in Underworld: Awakening, which made $160 million. The fifth installment, Underworld: Blood Wars, hit theaters in 2017, but there was a surprising drop in views, and there has been radio silence from Sony since.
What’s Kate’s Story as Selene?
Sony Pictures Entertainment
Underworld taught us that the longer lies are left to fester, the harder the blow is when the truth is revealed. Selene, sired daughter of vampire elder Viktor (Bill Nighy), spent centuries being a loyal and unwavering force of destruction for the vampire race as a Death Dealer. After being turned by Viktor and told her parents were killed by werewolves, Selene spent 600 years hunting the shifter species with a deep-rooted hatred. But upon learning that Viktor killed her parents, who constructed and built a prison to home the first and uncontrollable shifter, William Corvinus, she was left not knowing who to trust.
Viktor’s lie stemmed from his own heartache of losing his daughter, Sonja, who she reminds him of, but he was the one that killed Sonja when she fell in love with a werewolf.
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Not all werewolves/Lycans are the same. The first generation werewolves were the children of William Corvinus who couldn’t return to their human form once turned. That was so until Lucian was born, the first of a new breed of Lycans who could control his shift from human to wolf and wasn’t a mindless beast. Forced into slavery by Viktor, Lucian and Sonja found love that was burnt to a crisp — literally — when Sonja became pregnant.
A child of mixed blood sent Viktor into a rage, forcing him to kill his daughter and unintentionally triggering his own demise centuries later. Lucian, devastated by the death of his lover Sonja, dedicated his life to creating a new species, hybrids. While he didn’t live to see it, the fifth film brought that dream to fruition with the birth of a vampire and werewolf hybrid, Selene’s daughter, Eve (India Eisley).
Lucian played a hand in Eve’s father, Michael (Speedman), a human with the werewolf gene, becoming the first hybrid when Selene bit him. Now, Eve, a born hybrid, is the most powerful creature on earth. A new era and war have begun between the species under the banner of who should possess Eve’s powers by having her as their ally — or draining her of her blood to save the dying werewolf species — or to turn humans into werewolves. While we enjoyed Eve’s storyline and Selene taking on the role of a protective mom, Selene’s betrayal for killing Viktor, falling in love with a werewolf, and birthing a hybrid, left her an enemy of wolves and a traitor to vampires.
Chapter 6 and What to Expect
The fifth installment of Underworld had Selene’s character softening and showing more emotion due to the exhaustion of living as an outcast and fighting tooth and nail to keep her daughter’s location a secret. After 600 years, we’re surprised she’s only just growing tired of all the killing and betrayal. But with the vampire species facing extinction, Selene is pulled back into the war between the species, forming new alliances. At the end of Blood Wars, as a cliffhanger, Eve revealed herself to her mother, and all we got was a blurry image of the prized hybrid. Not nice, Sony!
But don’t fret. Hopefully, the sixth installment will showcase Eve and Selene fighting side by side to rebuild the vampire species and trample the werewolf community who murdered Michael. Although there have been a few discussions, the film hasn’t been confirmed, and it’s been six years since the last movie. Still, never say never, folks. Beckinsale reignited talks about Underworld during a red carpet interview with Variety last year and confirmed her interest in an Underworld and Blade crossover.
Perhaps Kate Beckinsale isn’t entirely finished playing one of our favorite vampires.
