Chris Hemsworth's Netflix Action Franchise Is Already Huge, But It's About To Become So Much Bigger
Richard Craig is a Senior Author at Screen Rant covering film and TV. Richard has also written extensively about horror and film soundtracks, contributing a chapter to the first major academic collection on the folk horror genre, The Routledge Companion to Folk Horror. Richard is also a performing musician and holds an MA in Music and Sound Art.
Chris Hemsworth’s gripping action franchise is dominating Netflix, and it’s only going to get bigger. Chris Hemsworth has become one of Hollywood's most recognizable action stars, largely thanks to his decade-long run as Thor in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. However, the Australian actor’s appeal extends well beyond wielding Mjolnir, with increasingly ambitious roles establishing him as an impeccable action star.
Netflix has been particularly successful in recognizing that potential. While the streaming giant has invested heavily in established properties and familiar intellectual property, some of its biggest original hits have come from relatively straightforward action concepts. A charismatic leading actor, spectacular stunt work and an international setting can go a surprisingly long way, especially when the resulting movie attracts an enormous global audience.
Hemsworth has already enjoyed considerable success with one such property, delivering two hugely popular installments that have established a compelling alternative to his superhero work.
With another major sequel on the way and two separate spin-offs expanding the fictional universe, Extraction is rapidly becoming one of Netflix's most ambitious action franchises. And Tyler Rake might soon have plenty of company.
When Extraction dropped on Netflix in April 2020, it immediately became one of the platform's biggest action releases. Directed by Sam Hargrave and produced by Anthony and Joe Russo's AGBO, Extraction stars Chris Hemsworth as Tyler Rake, an Australian black-ops mercenary hired to rescue the kidnapped son of an imprisoned Indian crime lord.
The premise is hardly complicated, but that's part of its appeal. Rake is an exceptionally capable operative thrown into an increasingly dangerous situation, and Extraction gives Hargrave plenty of opportunities to capitalize on his background as a stunt coordinator. One standout sequence is an extraordinary 12-minute apparent single take involving street fights, car chases and rooftop pursuits.
It's the sort of action filmmaking that makes just watching somebody reload a weapon feel exciting. The 2023 sequel, Extraction 2, raised the stakes considerably, giving Hargrave an even bigger canvas for his elaborate action sequences. Its celebrated prison-break sequence features another ambitious continuous-shot illusion, lasting more than 20 minutes when its various components are combined.
Both movies reached number one on Netflix's global charts and entered the streamer's all-time most popular English-language film rankings (via Netflix).
The franchise also benefits from Hemsworth's convincing action-star credentials. Although audiences will always associate him with Thor, Tyler Rake gives the actor a considerably more grounded character, one whose physical abilities are impressive but whose personal vulnerabilities provide an emotional foundation.
Netflix officially confirmed Extraction 3 in April 2026, with Hemsworth returning alongside Idris Elba. Hargrave is also back in the director's chair, while David Weil, known for Hunters and Citadel, is writing the screenplay.
The third installment has already begun production, with filming getting underway in New South Wales in July 2026. The production subsequently moved to Thailand, with reports indicating that filming wrapped in late October. Netflix has yet to announce an official release date, although a 2027 arrival is anticipated (via Variety).
Plot details remain firmly under wraps, but the returning cast offers some interesting possibilities. Elba's mysterious character was introduced towards the end of Extraction 2, offering Rake an opportunity to work for a powerful new employer. His return suggests that the relationship between the two characters could become increasingly important.
Pierce Brosnan is also joining the third movie, alongside franchise newcomer Don Lee, whose casting provides another exciting indication of the series' expanding ambitions. Lee is particularly well suited to this kind of physical action filmmaking, having established himself as a formidable screen presence in South Korea's The Roundup franchise.
Hargrave has promised to push the boundaries of action filmmaking again, describing the third installment as the franchise's biggest undertaking yet. Considering what he achieved with the previous two Extraction movies, that's a fairly exciting prospect.
Perhaps the most exciting development is that Netflix isn't relying exclusively on Tyler Rake to keep the franchise alive. Two separate spin-offs are expanding the property into different countries and formats, introducing new characters who can carry their own action-packed adventures.
The first is Tygo, a South Korean spin-off starring Don Lee, best known internationally for Train to Busan, Eternals and The Roundup franchise. Lee plays Tygo, a former child soldier turned mercenary who embarks on a revenge mission against Korea's criminal underworld after an operation goes wrong.
Directed by Lee Sang-yong, Tygo also stars Lee Jin-uk (Squid Game, Sweet Home). It's an intriguing combination of international talent, particularly given Lee's reputation for delivering wonderfully physical action performances. It also gives the franchise an opportunity to embrace South Korean action cinema rather than simply transplanting its established formula into another country. Production wrapped in March 2026.
Netflix is also developing Mercenary: An Extraction Series, an eight-episode television project starring Omar Sy. The Lupin actor plays a soldier-for-hire attempting to rescue hostages in Libya while navigating competing factions, ruthless killers and increasingly difficult moral decisions. Filming took place in Ireland and Morocco, with production wrapping in March 2026. These projects expand Extraction into a much more ambitious franchise.
Vitally, the Extraction franchise doesn't necessarily require every story to revolve around the same protagonist. Mercenaries undertaking dangerous rescue operations provide an exceptionally flexible foundation for storytelling, particularly when each assignment can introduce a different country, criminal organization and set of personal complications.
That's an advantage the franchise's creative team appears to understand. Rather than making every installment dependent on Tyler Rake, the filmmakers are establishing a broader world in which different operatives can operate independently while sharing the same general universe. Tygo and Mercenary are already demonstrating how that approach can work.
There are plenty of possibilities beyond the projects currently in development. A future installment could follow another international extraction team, explore the organizations employing these mercenaries or introduce an entirely different corner of the global criminal underworld. There's also room for the individual projects to develop their own identities.
A South Korean action thriller should feel different from an African-set mercenary television drama, even if both share the same fundamental DNA. That creative flexibility could prevent the Extraction franchise from becoming repetitive, something that inevitably becomes a problem when action sequels just try to make everything bigger and louder.
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