Get ready to return to the octagon, as Frank Grillo has confirmed his return for the upcoming Warrior spin-off series. Directed by Gavin O’Connor, Warrior still stands as the greatest mixed martial arts movie ever made, despite several recent attempts. Starring Tom Hardy, Edgerton, and Nick Nolte, Warrior follows two estranged brothers, who are both fighting for the cash prize in a prestigious MMA tournament. What sounds like a cheesy set-up turns out to be a moving story about family and addiction, with some incredible fight scenes.
The Warrior spin-off series was confirmed way back in 2021, with writer/director Gavin O’Connor returning to helm the show. UFC legend Daniel Cormier is confirmed to star in the series, alongside Gina Rodriguez. Fans are still waiting to hear if Tom Hardy and/or Joel Edgerton will return for the show, but one of its other main cast members has confirmed his place ring side. Speaking to Kristian Harloff, Frank Grillo revealed that he’s reprising his role as trainer Frank Campana in the new series. The actor said:
“[Gavin O’Connor] asked me a while back, ‘Do you think you’d come back? Could you come back and do a little bit?’ I go, ‘Yeah dude, I’ll come back.'”
In Warrior, Grillo played Frank Campana, a renowned MMA coach who corners Edgerton’s Brendan Conlon through the Sparta tournament. The Warrior spin-off series (titled Warriors) is being developed by Lionsgate TV for Paramount+. The 10 episode series will follow four new fighters, all of whom are chasing their own dreams and fighting their own demons, as they enter the Sparta tournament. In the interview, Grillo also teased how the familiar faces would return for the new series. He explained:
“[O’Connor] would use them sparingly, but significantly.”
Frank Grillo Explains Why ‘Warrior’ Flopped
Warrior is a cult-classic sports drama. The film has a die-hard fan base within the MMA community, and helped popularize the sport years before casual fans knew the names Conor McGregor or Alex Pereira. But, despite the immense critical success, Warrior failed to go all five rounds at the box office. The movie didn’t even earn back its budget during its theatrical run in 2011. Despite this, Nick Nolte still earned an Academy Award nomination for his performance as Brendan and Tom’s father, Paddy Conlon. During the conversation, Frank Grillo recalled Warrior‘s glass-chinned box office run, and explained why he thinks the film tapped out.
“Gavin got [Nick] Nolte to do this movie with two unknown guys (Tom Hardy and Joel Edgerton),” he began. “Nobody knew either one of them. The studio mismarketed the movie. Nobody really saw it when it came out. And yet still Nick Nolte got an Oscar nomination.”
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Speaking to Deadline in 2022, Gavin O’Connor explained why it was finally time to return to the world of Warrior. “Over the years, I’d been approached by Lionsgate to do Warrior as a TV series and I honestly was never interested,” he began. “Over the pandemic, I was in a different frame of mind, and they said, ‘Someone came in with an interesting take, Adair Cole,’ and I listened to it and liked it. There was some really interesting stuff in there.”
