It’s time for another “Whatever Happened to…” installment, where we talk about sequels that never got made.

This installment, we will talk about The Kickboxer: City of Blood, which was meant to be the official sixth installment of the original Kickboxer saga.

Sasha Mitchell had finished his third film as third Sloane brother David in Kickboxer 4: The Aggressor (released in 1994) and also was a TV star with his role as Cody Lambert on the sitcom Step by Step. However, personal issues would end up forcing him to take a temporary break and Mark Dacascos would complete the saga as Sloane’s friend Matt Reeves, who was out to avenge him in The Redemption: Kickboxer 5, released in 1995.

Flash forward two decades later. When it was announced that Dimitri Logothetis would be making a reboot of the original Kickboxer, Albert Pyun had planned a film originally called Algiers, which was an action thriller of sorts. Reaching to investors from various parts of the world, Pyun had learned that they wanted a “kickboxing” style film and it was then he came up with an idea. He would make a new Kickboxer film that would bring back Sasha Mitchell as David Sloane, as a result retconning The Redemption.

In late 2014, Mitchell’s involvement would be confirmed by Pyun, but the film would change the character’s last name from Sloane to “Anderson”, meaning this would be a new unrelated entry of the original saga. That is, until it was revealed that Mitchell might in fact be David Sloane but using a different name as a means to not think about his past. The plot would have David as a UN ambassador hired to transport a witness across foreign borders and come face-to-face with an enemy who recognizes him as well as a corrupt police officer hired to take down the target.

Pyun had announced in early 2015 that Dennis Chan would reprise his role of Xian Chow and thanks to film expert Mike Leeder, Julie Estelle of The Raid 2 fame would be cast as Tun, the aforementioned corrupt police officer. Mohammed Qissi, who played Tong Po in both Kickboxer and Kickboxer 2: The Road Back, would play a new character named Said Ali. There had been rumors of Mark Dacascos and Kevin Sorbo also joining the cast at one point. It was then announced that the film would shift into a web series.

Sadly, there is a reason why the project never came to fruition. Shortly after the announcement of the news, Albert Pyun announced he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and as a result, he had to slow his workload down. Meanwhile, the reboot of the saga, Kickboxer: Vengeance, which would star Gabonese-Canadian martial artist Alain Moussi, would be released in late 2016 to mixed reviews.

In 2017, Pyun was diagnosed with dementia in addition to his MS, and would eventually be forced into retirement. The iconic filmmaker passed away on November 26, 2022 at the age of 69.

Meanwhile, in 2018, a sequel to the reboot, Kickboxer: Retaliation, was released in 2018 to mostly positive reviews. The sequel was deemed a step-up from the first film and a finale, Kickboxer: Armageddon, will begin production in April 2024. Unlike the original saga, all three films features Moussi as the character of Kurt Sloane.

For more information on what would have been Kickboxer: City of Blood, check out City on Fire and Martial Arts Entertainment‘s pages on the film/web series.