Underworld 5: New Generation, No Kate Beckinsale? No Thanks!

Underworld 5 has a spiffy new name and if the name tells us anything it seems they may have passed on including the move pivotal character in the series, Selene. A few days ago Chris told you all that rumors are circulating that the new Underworld 5 film is ready to move ahead ( via BD ) and that the film has a brand new title ‘Underworld: Next Generation’.

To me this is clearly a play on the fact that the fifth film will focus now on Eve who was played by India Eisley in Underworld 4. This also means that Kate Beckinsale’s character will likely not be the focus of the fifth film as they try to cater to is a younger more box office hungry audience.

The Underworld franchise may have dumped Scott Speedman and gotten away with it but dropping Kate Beckinsale is as good as putting a stake in the franchise. Selene and Kate Beckinsale is the heart and soul of the vampire movie franchise and removing her character will make fans like me simply tune out.

You will recall this is not the first Underworld movie to not feature Kate Beckinsale’s character. Underworld Rise of the Lycans focused on the Romeo and Juliet love affair between Lucian and Sonja and saw Rhona Mitra take on the role of ass kicking death diva in latex.

Even despite the strength of doing a prequel that fans wanted and showing the origins story of the Lycans and the vampires the film lost its footing without Beckinsale. The film was the weakest of the bunch at the box office and if there is any doubt that Beckinsale played a part in that you need only look to the next film in the franchise Underworld 4 where Beckinsale returned. Not only was the film a smash hit at the box office bringing in the most money for the franchise yet it also introduced a new character angle that fans loved, the daughter of Selene and Michael’s Eve. No doubt aptly named for being the first of her kind.

The box office results proved that fans want more Beckinsale and have an appetite for more Underworld movies.

As one of the franchise fans I am all for more Underworld movies but if the only objective is to introduce a new spin on the characters to a new younger / trendy generation I will be happy to pass on the film.

The only thing worse than not bringing back Kate would be to have Beckinsale still playing Selene and Eve playing her troubled adolescent teenage daughter with lycan boy troubles ala Twilight. There are so many ways to do Underworld 5 wrong and I am having trouble thinking of a way to do it right.

My question for you is how do they do an Underworld 5 that makes sense and doesn’t simply just cash in on the franchise name and disappoint fans? Do they bring back Scott Speedman? Do they bring back Kate? Or am I completely off base and are they further ahead to dump Kate Beckinsale and kick start it in the future with Eve and a whole new cast of Lycans?