The Big Picture

• Machete Kills Again... in Space has been a long-awaited and highly anticipated third installment in the Machete franchise, but it has yet to materialize.
• The financial disappointment and lack of enthusiasm for Machete Kills may have been the reason for the delay and uncertainty surrounding the in Space sequel.
• Despite the challenges, there are still hints of a potential future for Machete Kills Again... in Space, and fans are eagerly waiting for the day when the film finally comes to fruition.

We should be thankful that we even have any Machete films to begin with. This is a franchise that was born out of a joke — a false promise! Robert Rodriguez's cult B-movie badass started out as the titular punchline of a fake trailer, sandwiched in the middle of the 2007 double feature extravaganza, Grindhouse. In the trailer, we caught glimpses of an over-the-top, explosive exploitation epic that chronicled the double-crossing of one Isador Cortez, better known by his enemies as Machete (brought to life by the legend that is Danny Trejo). Rodriguez's trailer proved to be too powerful though, and fans clamored for more. Just a few years later, we got the real deal — an actual standalone Machete movie! And in the closing credits of that film, we were generously guaranteed even more movies, one called Machete Kills, and a third called Machete Kills Again. 2010 was a long time ago, though, and things have changed.

Machete Kills did indeed get made and was released in 2013. This sequel was not met with the same degree of excitement though, nor the box office. In fact, it only made $17.4 million in its worldwide earnings. That's not exactly raking it in when you're working with a $20 million budget. This stings even harder when you consider the fact that Rodriguez hits us with the trailer for Machete Kills Again... in Space. After years of fans shuffling in their seats and the team behind these movies updating fans over and over, we've been left high and dry! Machete has, in fact, not killed again, nor in space! It's a shame, but an understandable one. Given the financial disappointment of Kills and lackluster enthusiasm for that film, the titular character's adventures have remained Earthbound... for the time being. More recently, there have been hints at this film finally exiting the atmosphere of development hell, but nothing has been set in motion. Hit us with another Machete, you cowards!

We Should Be Thankful That We Have a Series of 'Machete' Movies

Considering we're lucky to even have any full-length Machete movies at all, let alone two, we should take a moment of pause before making too big of demands for Machete Kills Again... in Space. The fact that we've had a few standalone projects branch off of the original Grindhouse tree feels like a miracle in and of itself, a release that wasn't particularly successful itself.

The original Machete is the only movie in this entire franchise that has been financially successful at the box office (all of that might change with the release of Eli Roth's long-gestating Thanksgiving), so asking for more feels like raking a cup against prison cell bars. Good luck, kid. Rodriguez is a prolific director though, seems to get projects into production in his sleep, and is one of those filmmakers that has seemingly worked with everyone in the industry. It feels like he'd be able to sweet-talk someone into helping him get in Space off the ground! That being said, from a fan's perspective, does this proposed third entry seem all that worth it?

What Do the Trailers Tell Us About 'Machete Kills Again... in Space'?

The two Machete Kills Again... in Space trailers that come with Machete Kills deliver just about everything you could ever want from this project. Machete has somehow found his way into deep space, where he once again teams up with Michelle Rodriguez's Shé. Armed with a lightsaber-like machete, Trejo's character battles the Man in the Silver Mask (said to be played by Leonardo DiCaprio, but is subject to change), miscellaneous intergalactic beings, and even a clone of himself. It has all the garbage special effects that you'd want from a low-budget sci-fi movie, but still brings the gory and vile touches that it needs in order to also be exploitation. I should never have doubted him, but yes, Rodriguez perfectly manages to mix sci-fi and grindhouse filmmaking. So yeah, this trailer hints at a completely unhinged Machete space adventure, as well as the return of Lady Gaga! We need it, please and thank you!

That said, there are a few cringe-inducing elements that harken toward some of Rodriguez's more lackluster projects. Despite the grainy filter that accompanies all of these Grindhouse movies, everything looks far too digital. It goes beyond betraying the mentality of cheap exploitation movies and just feels cheap for looking so artificial. Dodgy CGI for the outer space exteriors can be excused by the fact that it's all for a fake trailer, but it's still a factor. The plot alone feels like a bit too obvious of a joke as well. Of course, a Machete adventure would eventually take place in space, so why did any of us think differently? We'd be lying if we said it didn't look like fun, though. There's also a joke about Justin Bieber being cast in the movie, an incredibly 2013 bit that dies on arrival. Sometimes, Robert Rodriguez just aims for the most obvious jokes and does so in the cheapest-looking production possible. It makes Machete Kills Again... in Space feel more along the lines of his Spy Kids movies, which honestly is par for the course, considering Machete is the uncle of the titular spy kids. That will never not be strange.

What Happened to 'Machete Kills Again... in Space'?

We're a decade out from the promise of Machete Kills Again... in Space, and nothing has come of it. What's the deal, Rob?! More than anything, we likely have the poor critical and box office reception of Machete Kills to blame. Its sequel would be set in outer space, so it probably wouldn't be any cheaper to make than the series' second film. This would be a hefty gamble for any studio to take on, but fans want it! Bring it on, Rodriguez!

Well, recently, the filmmaker attended SXSW for a screening of his 2023 Hitchockian thriller, Hypnotic, where he was asked once more about his machete-wielding antihero. While speaking to Deadline, the director updated everyone on where this third film is at by saying, "I put a fake trailer for that on Machete 2 to kind of satisfy. 'Okay, this is pretty much what it would look like, but you can see it in two minutes rather than, y'know, two hours.' And it never satisfies them. It never satisfies them, so we have to do it. But you know, the original was just a fake trailer, the original was just a fake trailer on Grindhouse."

He elaborated further on how adapting the original Machete from a fake trailer relates to the situation with in Space by saying, "They would bug us for five years, 'When’s that movie coming out?' I said, 'It was a fake trailer.' 'No, but it looked real! When is it coming out?' So we gotta make it for them. So five years later, I made that movie. It wasn’t meant to be a film, and so the audience just wanted it. So we have to give it to them. When someone wants something that bad, I've never had that with any movie before. Now everyone’s still 'Machete in Space!' You can’t give 'em enough!"

So there seems to be a hint of something potentially brewing, at the very least in Rodriguez's head. He seems to want to make the movie, but there's a chance that it just isn't at the top of his priorities. No one is getting any younger though. Trejo, in particular, is 79 years young! We can't beat around the bush on this forever. Let's hope this third entry is resurrected sooner rather than later, that they change the title from Machete in Space back to its original name, Machete Kills Again... in Space, and that Rodriguez and Trejo hop on their machete-wielding horse one last time. If the latest Grindhouse movie, Thanksgiving, is a hit, then maybe that will encourage everyone to give things another shot. Bring it on!

Machete Kills is available to stream on Paramount+ in the U.S.

Watch on Paramount+