Recap of ‘The Old Guard’: Key Points to Recall Before Watching ‘The Old Guard 2’

It’s been a long five years, but The Old Guard 2 release date is finally here… almost.

The follow-up to the well-received 2020 action film, The Old Guard, is set to debut on Netflix on Wednesday, July 2, just in time for the extended holiday weekend. The original cast is reprising their roles, with Charlize Theron returning as Andy, KiKi Layne as Nile, Marwan Kenzari as Joe, Luca Marinelli as Nicky, Matthias Schoenaerts as Booker, Chiwetel Ejiofor as James Copley, and Veronica Ngô as Quỳnh. Additionally, there are two new additions: Henry Golding as Tuah, a new member of the immortal team, and Uma Thurman as Discord, a formidable new foe.

Directorial duties for the sequel have transitioned to Victoria Mahoney from Gina Prince-Bythewood, who helmed the first installment of The Old Guard. Greg Rucka, the creator and writer of the original comic that inspired the film, collaborated with Sarah Walker on the screenplay. After the revelation of the sequel’s production in 2022, fans of the Old Guard can finally rejoice as the wait comes to an end.

However, five years is a considerable gap. The Old Guard 2 resumes the narrative immediately following the conclusion of the first movie, making it essential to recall the key plot points to avoid confusion. Fear not, as Decider is here to guide you through a recap of the pivotal moments from The Old Guard that you should keep in mind before delving into The Old Guard 2, providing insights from someone who recently binge-watched both films consecutively.

1. Early on in the movie, we learn that the immortals are not immortal forever. There comes a time when their power simply stops working—they stop healing supernaturally fast, and death is final. They don’t know when or why this happens, but it happened to a former member of their group. In The Old Guard, it happens to Andy—she stops healing quickly. Though she is alive at the end of the movie, she knows that her next death will be her final death.

2. One of the immortals, a Frenchman named Sebastian Le Livre, who goes by Booker (Matthias Schoenaerts) sells out his friends to the villain of the movie, Steven Merrick (Harry Melling) who wants to study the immortals and discover the secret to eternal life for all humans. Booker is haunted by the memory of his brother, who died young of cancer and blamed Booker for never aging. Booker considers his immortality a curse, and hopes Merrick can find a way to make him mortal again.

   By the end of the movie, Booker regrets his betrayal and fights to free and protect his friends. Though Andy appears to forgive him, the group decides he still needs to be punished. He is exiled from the group for the next 100 years.

3. James Copley (played by Oscar-nominated actor Chiwetel Ejiofor) is an ex-CIA agent who uses his spy skills to help the bad guy in The Old Guard track down the immortals. He is motivated by grief over losing his wife, and hopes to help discover the secret to eternal life. However, when he learns that Merrick intends to imprison the immortals in inhumane conditions, he switches sides, and helps Nile rescue the immortal crew. At the end of the movie, Andy informs Copley he’s on their team now, and will help the immortals cover their tracks and avoid detection.

4. In a flashback sequence in the first movie, we learn that Andy spent centuries alone, convinced she was the only immortal. Then she met another, Quynh (Van Veronica Ngo). The two of them traveled the world together and promised to always be there for one and other. But during that Salem witch trials, Andy and Quynh were found out. They were burned at the stake and killed many other ways. Because they kept coming back to life, it drove the witch-hunters to even more violence.

   Eventually, they were separated. Andy escaped (we aren’t told how), but Quynh was damned to an eternity of suffering in a metal cage at the bottom of the ocean, endlessly drowning, resurrecting, and drowning again. Andy looked for Quynh for centuries, but eventually gave up. When Nile joins the group, she dreams about Quynh drowning and coming to life over and over again, livid and unhinged with rage. It’s then that Andy knows Quynh is still alive.

5. There is an Old Guard after credits scene that takes place six months later. Booker returns to his apartment, drunk, only to find that someone has broken in: A Vietnmanese woman in a red robe drinking a glass of water! “Booker,” she says, “It’s nice to finally meet you.” It’s Van Veronica Ngo, aka Quynh, and we can only assume she’s out for revenge on her negligent ex-lover.

6. I can’t tell you why this is important to remember, only that it is important to remember. When Andy first kidnaps Nile—a new immortal—to inform her she is now one of them, Nile first tries to run, and then tries to fight back. This leads to Nile stabbing Andy. To be fair, Andy shot her first!

7. Who could forget that epic kiss? But just in case you did, Joe (Marwan Kenzari) and Nicky (Luca Marinelli) reveal in the first movie that before they became immortal, they were fighting on opposite sides during the Crusades. They fell in love and became immortal together, and they have always had each other for hundreds of years. When a bad guy taunts them for being “boyfriends,” Joe responds, “You’re a child. He’s not my boyfriend. This man is more to me than you can dream. He’s the moon when I’m lost in darkness, and warmth when I shiver in cold. And his kiss still thrills me even after a millennium. His heart overflows with a kindness of which this world is not worthy. I love this man beyond measure and reason. He’s not my boyfriend. He is all, and he is more.”