ComingSoon editor-in-chief Brandon Schreur spoke Den of Thieves 2: Pantera Writer/director Christian Gudegast and producer Tucker Tooley on the upcoming sequel starring O’Shea Jackson Jr. and Gerard Butler. Gudegast and Tooley discussed how they turned the first Den of Thieves film into a franchise, what the process is like when writing a heist film, and more.

“Gerard Butler (Plane, Has Fallen series) and O’Shea Jackson Jr. (Straight Out of Compton, Godzilla: King of the Monsters) return in the sequel to 2018 action-heist hit Den of Thieves.” , says the official synopsis. “In Den of Thieves 2: Pantera, Big Nick (Butler) is back on the hunt in Europe and closes in on Donnie (Jackson), who is caught up in the treacherous and unpredictable world of diamond thieves and the infamous Panther Mafia in a massive heist plan the largest diamond exchange in the world.”

Den of Thieves 2: Pantera will be released in US theaters on January 10, 2025.

Brandon Schreur: I know you both obviously worked on the first film. Something I liked about Den of Thieves 2 is that it felt like a natural progression from that story, especially when it comes to certain plot points, characters, and developments. I’m just wondering: when you were working on the first film, did you have this whole idea for the sequel? Or when did something like this come about?

Christian Gudegast: The long form of the story was, so to speak, predetermined from the beginning. When researching “The 1,” we came across so much material that we couldn’t put it together in one film. It’s almost like we have material for multiple seasons of a show. Then we knew we would use it sparingly, so to speak, over the course of several films. You know, from the beginning we tried to build a franchise based on very elaborate, fascinating heists around the world.

We knew from the start that we wanted to travel and explore Europe and particularly the world of diamonds. We met all the right people. The police were involved; from the diamond police to the investigation into the big robbery. We met the thieves from the Balkans, hung out with them and got all the material that forms the basis for the film.

Secure. This sounds like a lot of work, but it turned out so well.

Tucker Tooley: Films are a lot of work!

I’m sure. Christian, you not only directed the film, but also wrote it. I’ve always wondered what the process is like when writing a heist film. I love the genre so much and I think it’s so cool to see how all the steps fit together. Start with the idea of, “Let them steal these jewels,” as you said? Or do you think up the individual steps of the heist – the work on the roof, for example – and then work backwards from there?

Gudegast: Honestly, it’s all about the research. It’s all about finding out about actual robberies and then finding a way to contact the people involved. Then you really get the real details of how it was actually done, because that’s super fascinating to me and to all of us. How these things came about – the people who do it, why they do it and how they do it, it’s really endlessly interesting. I’m just a fan of it. Out of pure curiosity, I like to go in, meet people and discuss it.

The devil is in the details, right? As you research, you discover all these great moments and basically just pile them up. You somehow put them all together. And when you actually do the work – which, as you said, takes a lot of time, you have to travel a lot, go places, meet people and spend a lot of time with them. It is that you are not a tourist in the world. You really want to immerse yourself in the world, so you have to spend time with it, and then they learn to trust you, get to know you, and the walls come down. They open up to you more and more, you get more information. And honestly, at this point it just writes itself.

Sure, that makes perfect sense. Another thing I liked about this film is the character dynamic between Donnie and Nick, especially the way they have changed from the first film. This is especially the case when they compete against each other, and here they work together a bit more. I really liked the scene where they go to the club and have a drunken conversation over a kebab. I thought that was really cool, but I’m curious how you would define that relationship overall over the course of these two films? Do you think they actually improve each other in any way, or do you see it as a toxic relationship between Nick and Donnie?

Gudegast: No, I don’t think it’s poisonous. I think they should be opposites – the thing with gangsters and cops is that there’s often a respect and maybe even a little appreciation. They all work in a large company. It’s a big ecosystem and they’re all part of it. I think they actually realize that they like each other a lot more than they ever expected. I think the affection for each other is real.

Thanks to Christian Gudegast and Tucker Tooley for discussing Den of Thieves 2: Pantera.