Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill Prequel Would Be The Perfect Miniseries
Quentin Tarantino has reiterated his plans for a Kill Bill prequel centered around Bill’s origin story, and honestly, it would make a great miniseries. Tarantino has been doing the rounds recently to promote the long-awaited theatrical release of Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair, a four-and-a-half-hour epic combining Kill Bill: Volumes 1 and 2 into a single movie, the way he originally envisioned. Over the course of this promotional tour, Tarantino has released a “lost chapter” of Kill Bill on Fortnite, expressed some questionable opinions about Paul Dano and Owen Wilson, and continued to deliberate over his long-gestating 10th and final film. He’s also dusted off an old idea for a Kill Bill spinoff that would make a great limited series.
Quentin Tarantino Still Wants To Make A Kill Bill Prequel About Bill's Origin Story
Bill holding his sword in Kill Bill
Speaking at a screening of “Yuki’s Revenge,” the Fortnite-exclusive lost chapter, at his own movie theater, the Vista, in Los Angeles, Tarantino pitched a Kill Bill prequel. He made it clear that he wasn’t actively working on the project, and that he has “other things to do right now,” but he sounded pretty excited by the idea. Tarantino said that, while he was making Kill Bill, he got excited about telling Bill’s origin story. By the time he finished making Kill Bill, he felt “so wiped out” that any future Kill Bill-related endeavors were put on indefinite hold. But he’s always wanted to explore Bill’s backstory and see “how Bill became Bill.” He would tell that story through “the three godfathers that made Bill.” Throughout the course of Kill Bill, we meet the father figures that raised and mentored Bill and turned him into the cold-blooded monster who left the Bride for dead: his tough but brilliant teacher Pai Mei, master swordsmith Hattori Hanzō, and Esteban Vihaio, a pimp who recruits his sex workers’ illegitimate children into his street gang. Tarantino quipped that he might not “live long enough” to tell Bill’s origin story in some form, especially since he has other stories to tell and other worlds to explore. But as much as I’d love to see Tarantino make another movie or direct a stage play or write an original novel, I think this Kill Bill prequel would make an amazing miniseries.
The Stories Of Bill's Three Mentors Should Be Adapted Into A Limited Series
Esteban (Michael Parks) in the Mexican brothel in Kill Bill Vol. 2
Tarantino could tell Bill’s origin story in a comic book or an animated movie, but it really feels like a TV miniseries is the best medium for this material. As he’s wrapping up his movie career, Tarantino has started flirting with the possibility of switching to TV. Tarantino considered directing some episodes of Justified: City Primeval, and he’s spoken about doing a full Bounty Law series. The fact that Bill was raised by three separate mentors perfectly splits his origin story into distinctive chapters, or episodes. Much like Kill Bill itself, each chapter would explore a different genre. Pai Mei comes from the heightened world of high-flying wuxia movies, Hanzō comes from the more grounded world of old-school martial arts films, and Esteban comes from the gritty world of Mexican crime thrillers. The breathing room of a miniseries would give Tarantino plenty of room to explore the ways that each of these father figures shaped Bill. We could see how Pai Mei turned him into a cold-hearted killing machine. We could see how Esteban turned him into a sleazebag who can’t form healthy relationships, kind of like young Dick Whitman growing up in a house of ill repute in Mad Men.
Tarantino Should Still Do Kill Bill: Volume 3
Uma Thurman as The Bride, preparing to fight in Kill Bill.
Whether he ends up telling Bill’s origin story or not, I still think Tarantino should make Kill Bill: Volume 3 someday. We still need to see Nikki coming after the Bride and B.B. in a third movie, both for the chance to see Uma Thurman and Maya Hawke kicking ass on-screen together and to conclude the film’s thesis on the messiness of revenge and the cruel cycle of eye-for-an-eye punishment. Since it would technically be an extension of Kill Bill, which he considers to be one movie (and just re-released as such), it might not have to count as his 10th movie. And even if it does count as his 10th movie, that would be a great one to go out on. Kill Bill: Volume 3 would be like Tarantino: Endgame. As it stands, Tarantino’s last movie is Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, and that would actually be a pretty perfect final film. It’s a meta commentary on Tarantino’s own filmmaking style, a bittersweet nostalgic look at a bygone era in the industry, and a love letter to the art of cinema. As far as closing statements go, it’s basically flawless. But Tarantino has promised us one last movie, and it would be awesome if that movie was Kill Bill: Volume 3. If Once Upon a Time in Hollywood was Tarantino’s closing statement, then a Kill Bill threequel could be his victory lap: one last bloody, action-packed, genre-bending epic mixing in all his best collaborators, touching on every genre or style he’s ever loved.
