Evangeline Lilly Addresses If There Will Be a ‘Real Steel 2’

If you have been holding out hope for a sequel to 2011’s Hugh Jackman/Evangeline Lilly vehicle Real Steel, the leading lady has bad news for you.

The film, from director Shawn Levy, underperformed at the box office amid a slew of “Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots” jokes, but has found a cult fandom on home video and streaming. Still, Lilly says, the period of time during which the studio was considering a follow-up has long since passed.

“I honestly was with you guys in pushing really hard for a Real Steel 2 — to the extent that when I got the feedback that when they were going to do it and then they were having issues in the writing room, I went off and I outlined and wrote my own version of Real Steel 2 and what I would do,” Lilly said.”Like ‘if you just need ideas, I’ve got tons of ideas.’”

The comments, which you can see above, were made during a panel at FanX, where Lilly was in attendance to discuss her children’s book franchise, The Squickerwonkers.

She blamed Real Steel‘s box office failure on the film’s marketing, saying that while the movie itself was a sweet redemption story about a father and son, the film’s marketing played up the action and sci-fi elements, so that the audiences who turned out for the movie were disappointed, and the audiences who would ultimatley become its fan base did not bother.

“I just think the wrong people ended up in the theater, and by the time it got to the right people…it was already long past theater time and out on DVD and it hadn’t done the theater numbers that we hoped,” Lilly admitted. “And so I’ve been told we’re never going to see a Real Steel 2, and as much as I would love to Hugh again and as much as I would love to work with Shawn Levy again, something beautiful about that remains sacred. I tend not to be a fan of sequels, period. I kind of love the idea of leaving well enough alone and just treasuring and cherishing a thing as it is, so I’m kind of of two minds about that.”

In the years since Real Steel, of course, Lilly has done some movies with sequels — including three Hobbit films and two Ant-Man movies. Whether or not she will appear in Avengers 4 remains up in the air, but it would not be surprising.