Jean-Claude Van Damme’s film Timecop is a cult classic. With all the Hollywood revivals starring legacy actors, Timecop deserves a second chance.

With all the reboots coming out from Hollywood, Jean-Claude Van Damme’s Timecop should join the pack with a sequel. Timecop is a 1994 sci-fi film that explores officers policing time travel from criminals wishing to abuse its power. Van Damme’s character, time agent Max Walker, is trying to stop a politician from using time travel to win his election while also trying to save his wife from being murdered in the past. The film was a hit in theaters and was well-received by critics and audiences. However, it hasn’t gotten a proper follow-up or update.

Timecop has a lot of potential for a sequel or a follow-up TV series. There is a lot of source material to work with and now could be the opportunity to give Timecop a proper sequel. Others have attempted to do so in the past, but it hasn’t resonated with audiences. Timecop has been referenced in shows like Rick and Morty, showing that the film impacted the time travel genre, which has gone on to become very popular. And, if a sequel was made, there are a few directions that the franchise could go in.

Timecop Could See New Life With A Sequel Or Series
The original Timecop film ends with Van Damme’s character Max Walker being introduced to a son he’s never known. If a sequel film were to pick up in the present day, Walker’s son would be all grown up and could have followed in his father’s footsteps. The Timecop sequel could take a similar approach to Creed, the sequel series to the Rocky franchise, and have Jean-Claude Van Damme’s character mentor his son in the time travel policing job and eventually hand the franchise over to the younger character. Taking this approach would be smart as Creed is widely successful on its own having moved beyond Rocky’s character as Sylvester Stallone won’t be returning for Creed 3.

Another approach could be to imitate another successful follow-up Cobra Kai, the sequel to The Karate Kid franchise. Jean-Claude Van Damme’s character could return in a TV series and be estranged from his son similar to Johnny Lawrence and have to work to both redeem himself and reconnect with his son. Making a TV series would also open the door for alumni from the original film to return over time. This strategy has already proved to be successful as Cobra Kai is going on season 6 and is more popular than ever. Another way it would be similar to Cobra Kai would be by incorporating Jean-Claude Van Damme’s unique fighting style by having him continue to take down bad guys with his incredible fighting moves and showcase a new style of fighting that his son could use in his own cases.

Technically, there already was a sequel to Timecop. In 2003, Timecop 2: The Berlin Decision was released directly to home video. The film didn’t bring back any of the cast from the original film but took place in the same universe twenty-one years later. Timecop 2 starred Jason Scott Lee in the lead role and Thomas Ian Griffith as the villain who wants to alter the future by going back in time and killing Hitler. The film was not received well by audiences and currently holds a 27% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. While this film is not considered a real sequel to Timecop, it could be referenced in a possible follow-up and provide interesting cameos.

Timecop is originally based on a comic book series called Time Cop: A Man Out of Time. It was created by the founder of Dark Horse Comics, Mike Richardson, and was released in 1992. The comic also follows time agent Max Walker but does not share the plot of the film, instead having Walker chase down a criminal trying to steal diamonds from South Africa. This is a storyline that could be used in a potential sequel and could still star Jean-Claude Van Damme. Another source could be the short-lived Timecop TV series and its novel tie-ins.

The TV series aired in 1997 and, similar to Timecop 2, had a completely different cast, characters, and story. These plots and characters could either serve as inspiration for a true Timecop sequel or be written into the official Timecop universe.Universal has had a Timecop reboot in the works since 2014, but another reboot would be a mistake. Keeping the concept but not the legacy characters affected multiple projects trying to bring Timecop to new audiences. With the rise and popularity of legacy sequels, Timecop and Jean-Claude Van Damme should get their chance to shine again, continue their story, and introduce a whole new generation to the vastly imaginative world of policing time travel.