Is Hollywood Finally Coming For Director Timo Tjahjanto?

If you haven’t heard of Timo Tjahjanto yet, that may be about to change. The Indonesian filmmaker is in post-production on Nobody 2, the sequel to the Bob Odenkirk shoot-em-up from 2021, which is expected to release this August. Tjahjanto was also tapped to helm the upcoming sequel to last year’s Jason Statham starrer The Beekeeper. So no, I’m not here to tell you why you should care about some up-and-coming indie darling fresh off the festival circuit (though his work has debuted at plenty of festivals); I’m here to tell you how this guy earned the keys to two budding studio franchises and why that’s probably just the start of things to come.

First, let’s rewind a bit: Timo Tjahjanto has been working steadily for almost twenty years as a director, writer, and producer. Working under the name The Mo Bros with collaborator Kimo Stamboel, Tjahjanto’s feature film debut was a slasher called Macabre in 2009. The pair went on to direct the Japanese/Indonesian thriller Killers (2014) and the relentless action flick Headshot, which starred Iko Uwais and premiered at the 2016 Toronto Film Festival. Horror fans may recognize Tjahjanto’s contributions to anthology films like 2012’s The ABCs of Death and 2013’s V/H/S/2 (for which he co-wrote and co-directed a segment with The Raid’s Gareth Evans).

2018 proved to be a big year for Tjahjanto, with two feature films showcasing the breadth of his talents: The supernatural horror film May The Devil Take You, and the viciously violent The Night Comes For Us. Action fans may remember The Night Comes For Us for reuniting The Raid stars Joe Taslim and Iko Uwais, or they may just remember it for the epic final showdown between the two actors, but it also holds a place in history as the first Indonesian Netflix Original film. In an interview with Film School Rejects regarding the film, Tjahjanto explained that “my very core of filmmaking is based on my love for horror,” and that love is what differentiates his action style from his contemporaries. It also explains why his body of work vacillates fluidly between those genres. Horror may have been his start, and action may define his present, but he injects all of his films with a little of both.

His relationship with Netflix continues, as the streamer released his 2022 film action comedy The Big 4 and last year’s stylishly brutal The Shadow Strays. Both films quickly cracked Netflix’s Global Top 10 lists for non-English films, so the partnership seems to be mutually beneficial. With Netflix seeming to provide a fairly stable outlet for Tjahjanto’s personal films, it makes his decision to take the big Hollywood sequel money all the more interesting. This isn’t a case of a director who’s “made it,” cashing in and following the industry ladder to greater heights. It seems more like a deliberate move from a creator who already has a deep commitment to pursuing his own projects, but who appreciates the value of increased exposure and meeting new collaborators. I wouldn’t even say it’s a “one for them/ one for me” scenario because it all seems to be part of a plan to continue making his own stories come to life. Tjahjanto constantly teases sequels and trilogies to his films (most recently stating that The Shadow Strays would return), and I’m sure his upcoming gigs will help make those teases a reality.

I’m not surprised Tjahjanto landed Nobody 2, given the fact that John Wick’s David Leitch is a producer. I’m not sure why the first film’s director, Ilya Naishuller, isn’t returning, but Leitch is a former stunt coordinator who has helped define the style of our current era of Hollywood action films. If he’s looking for a director who can push that style further, he surely found his guy. Perhaps The Beekeeper 2 came on the heels of that first endorsement (Hollywood loves to hop on board a good idea after someone else has had it), and arguably Tjahjanto has even bigger shoes to fill this time, taking over from the first film’s director, David Ayer. The thing about sequels is that you need to give your audience more, and “more” is basically Tjahjanto’s calling card. More blood, more impacts, more relentless action. If these films do well, they’ll certainly lead to more opportunities for Timo Tjahjanto in Hollywood as well, and that’s a future I’m very much looking forward to.