Mark Wahlberg and THE DEPARTED Writer Pitched an Idea for a Sequel Starring Brad Pitt, But It Didn't Land

The 2006 film The Departed was such an exciting movie. From Academy Award-winning director Martin Scorsese, the movie had a bonkers all-star cast that included Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Mark Wahlberg, Jack Nicholson, Martin Sheen, Alec Baldwin, Anthony Anderson, Vera Farmiga, Ray Winstone, and Kevin Corrigan.

The story followed an undercover cop in south Boston who is up against a mole within the department. There are so many twists and turns, and the ending is outrageous. The movie won four Oscars that year, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Editing. So if the writer and one of the stars had an idea for a sequel, you’d think the studio would maybe want to see how that played out, right? Apparently not.

In a recent interview with the KFC Radio podcast (via CinemaBlend), Mark Wahlberg explained the pitch that he presented with the film’s writer, William Monahan, saying:

“They talked about that, they talked about a prequel, and then a sequel. I went into a meeting with Bill Monahan at Warner Bros. to pitch the sequel to The Departed, he wanted me to go with him. This was after it had won Best Picture, it was a big success and all that. Let’s just say the pitch didn’t go very well.”

I guess a pitch really can make or break a film idea. You would think that even an idea for an Oscar-winning Best Picture would be well-received, especially considering The Departed is based on the Hong Kong crime film series Infernal Affairs, but just the idea for the film wasn’t enough for the studio to make it come together. Wahlberg went on to say:

“He assumed the studio would have the same response that everyone else did and let him go figure it out. But they like to have things well-thought out and planned, so that pitch didn’t go well.”

He added that Monahan did have some idea about a potential storyline, and he mentioned Robert De Niro and Brad Pitt were some of the A-listers the writer suggested. The Departed producer Roy Lee revealed in 2016 why it didn’t happen, saying it came down to an expensive budget and Martin Scorsese not wanting to do one. Scorsese's stance made sense, as he recalled the Oscar-nominated crime film was horrible to film, citing the dark subject matter and post-production as being hard for him. So that basically killed the potential sequel before it could even be written.

But at least we still have the first film, and who knows? Maybe someone will write a killer script for a sequel that all parties involved won’t be able to pass up. For now, you can watch The Departed on HBO Max. Would you want to see a sequel to this movie?