xXx: Return of Xander Cage (alternatively known as xXx: Reactivated in some countries) is a 2017 American action film directed by D. J. Caruso and written by F. Scott Frazier. It stars Vin Diesel, Donnie Yen, Deepika Padukone, Kris Wu, Ruby Rose, Tony Jaa, Nina Dobrev, Toni Collette and Samuel L. Jackson. It is the third film in the xXx franchise and a sequel to both xXx (2002) and xXx: State of the Union (2005). Unlike the previous films, which were distributed by Columbia Pictures, the film will be released by Paramount Pictures on January 20, 2017, in 2D, RealD 3D and IMAX 3D.

This will also mark the first film produced by Revolution Studios in ten years since 2007's The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep.

Extreme athlete turned government operative Xander Cage (Vin Diesel), thought to be long dead, comes out of self-imposed exile to race villain Xiang (Donnie Yen) to recover a powerful weapon known as "Pandora's Box". Recruiting a group of thrill-seeking cohorts, Xander finds himself caught up in a deadly conspiracy of corruption among world governments.^[6]

Neymar^[8], Dani Lightningbolt, Nina Buitrago, Roberta Mancino, Chad Kerley, T.J. Rogers and Nyjah Huston will appear as themselves, as well as an uncredited cameo by Ice Cube reprising his role of Darius Stone / xXx.

Although the character of Xander Cage was supposedly killed in the sequel to explain his absence, Vin Diesel has announced in 2006 that he would be returning as Xander Cage in a second sequel, entitled XXX: The Return of Xander Cage.^[9] Initially, not only Diesel was set to return, but also the director of XXX, Rob Cohen. Diesel has said that the style and music will also be similar to that of the original film, more of what the fans want, with an emphasis on extreme stunts and with a heavy metal soundtrack. Joe Roth was in talks to produce.^[10] According to Cohen, he has also approached Sony, and "now we're writing a script with the guys who wrote Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines and Terminator Salvation. So we'll do another Xander Cage XXX. We'll bring it up to speed a bit and bring back the extreme sports guy who's drafted to be a spy."^[11] On June 10, 2009, Cohen dropped out of the production, instead moving to direct the action film Medieval. On August 26, 2009, SlashFilm announced that Ericson Core would be directing and production would start in early 2010.^[12]

In April 2010, it was revealed that the third film would be financed by Paramount Pictures instead of Sony, and would also be shot in 3D. Meanwhile, Rob Cohen had returned as director.^[13] Vin Diesel will produce, among others, while Gloria S. Borders, Scott Hemming, Ric Kidney and Vince Totino will serve as executive producers.^[14]

In January 2014, Vin Diesel confirmed work on a sequel tentatively titled XXX: The Return of Xander Cage. On August 23, 2015, Vin Diesel announced on his Instagram page that "While I was filming XXX, guys on set called me Air Diesel... The time to return has come. Filming starts December in the Philippines. #ILiveForThisShit...".^[15] On October 10, 2015, it was reported^{[by whom?]} that director D.J. Caruso will direct the film.^[16] Diesel announced that UFC fighter Conor McGregor was cast in a role and that Jackson will be reprising his role as Gibbons.^[17][18] On January 1, 2016, Twitch reported that Tony Jaa, Jet Li and Deepika Padukone were cast in roles.^[19] The following week, Nina Dobrev and Ruby Rose were also cast.^[20] Dobrev would be playing a witty and sarcastic techie, while Padukone will play a huntress who happens to be Cage’s former lover. Rose will play a sniper.^[21] Andrey Ivchenko was confirmed to be another villain in the film as one of the big bads Diesel is set to lock horns with, given that earlier reports revealed Li also joined the threequel as a potential adversary. It started filming later in January 2016 and with schedules in Canada in Toronto and Hamilton, Ontario, as well as the Dominican Republic and the Philippines.^[22] It was rumored that Ice Cube, who played the protagonist Darius Stone in the second film (XXX: State of the Union in 2005), would reprise his role but has yet to be confirmed.^[23] On February 6, 2016, the director revealed on his Twitter account that Kris Wu had joined the cast,^[24][25] he also added that Wu would be playing a vital character.^[26][27] On February 12, 2016, reports brought in the news that Jet Li dropped out of the film and was replaced with Donnie Yen in the role of the main antagonist, Xiang.^[28]

Conor McGregor later dropped out of his planned appearance to focus on training and the UFC. He was replaced by Michael Bisping.^[29] On June 3 2016, it was revealed that Brazilian footballer Neymar joined the film's cast.^[30]

Paramount Pictures scheduled the film for a January 14, 2017 release date.^[31]

In a interview with Variety, Diesel revealed that Paramount has already contacted him about returning for a fourth film, even going so far as asking him if he and other cast members would be willing to get to work sometime in May.^[32]