Gerard Butler reprises his role as Secret Service agent Mike Banning in Angel Has Fallen, but does the threequel include a post-credits scene? Butler made his debut as Agent Banning in 2013’s Olypmpus Has Fallen, an R-rated action thriller (often described as “Die Hard in the White House”) directed by Antoine Fuqua. The film received lukewarm reviews overall, but drew praise for its ’90s action movie throwback style, and went on to become a modest success at the box office (grossing $170 million against a $70 million budget).
Olympus was followed by a sequel in 2016 titled London Has Fallen, with Butler once again starring opposite Aaron Eckhart as U.S. President Benjamin Asher. The film was generally considered inferior to its predecessor, but ended up earning more at the box office ($206 million) against a lower budget ($60 million). As a result, a third installment, Angel Has Fallen, was green-lit a few months after London hit theaters, and is making its way to the big screen this week.
For those who are wondering, Angel Has Fallen includes a mid-credits scene. Those who see the movie in theaters won’t have to wait long to check it out, either, as it begins shortly after the end credits start rolling.
Angel Has Fallen sends Mike on the run after he’s framed for an assassination attempt against the new U.S. President, Allan Trumbull (Morgan Freeman), and forced to evade his own agency and the FBI as he tries to discover who’s really behind the threat against the President. Trumball was previously the Speaker of the House in Olympus Has Fallen and then the Vice President in London Has Fallen. Eckhart, however, does not reprise his role as Asher in Angel Has Fallen, seeing as he’s no longer President in the film. The movie also introduces several newcomers to the franchise, including Nick Nolte as Mike’s father Clay, a Vietnam War veteran, and Jada Pinkett Smith as Helen Thompson, the FBI agent tasked with hunting Mike down.
Written by Robert Mark Kamen (the Taken trilogy), Matt Cook (Patriots Day), and the movie’s director Ric Roman Waugh (from a story by Olympus Has Fallen writers Katrin Benedikt and Creighton Rothenberger), Angel Has Fallen has the potential to serve as a finale to the Has Fallen series. The film’s mid-credits scene doesn’t set-up a sequel, either, and instead pays-off a dangling plot thread. Then again, the previous two Has Fallen movies were standalone too, so a fourth film is still a possibility. Either way, viewers might as well hang around for Angel Has Fallen’s additional scene and, if they have the time, the remainder of the credits thereafter.
- Angel Has Fallen Release Date: 2019-08-23