Does ‘Argylle’ Have a Post-Credits Scene?

Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for Argylle.

The Big Picture

• The film Argylle has a mid-credits scene that teases a follow-up film and connects to earlier films by director Matthew Vaughn.
• The mid-credits scene introduces a new character named Aubrey Argylle and suggests a connection to another Matthew Vaughn franchise.
• The future of the Argylle franchise is uncertain, with its continuation dependent on audience reception and box office success.

Mid and post-credits scenes have become common features of major studio blockbuster films. They are most regularly featured in films in the superhero genre, specifically the Marvel Cinematic Universe, meant to tease future, related projects, or conclude a smaller storyline or running joke from the film. But they have become such a fixture that some viewers even expect them in action blockbusters outside the superhero genre, if the film in question is part of or meant to establish a major franchise. The new film Argylle seeks to do the latter, so viewers will probably be wondering if they need to wait through the credits for any additional scenes. The answer is yes, Argylle does have an additional scene after the credits begin, though it comes in the middle of them, after only the earliest, stylized credits, not all the way at the end. The scene is seemingly meant to tease a follow-up film while also acknowledging a novel based on the same fictional universe and establishing a connection to earlier films by director Matthew Vaughn.

What Is ‘Argylle’ About?

Argylle revolves around Elly Conway (Bryce Dallas Howard), author of a popular series of novels about super-spy Agent Argylle, who is played by Henry Cavill in scenes depicting how Elly imagines the books’ narratives. While working on the latest book in the series, Elly is swept into a real-life espionage plot when Aidan Wilde (Sam Rockwell), a real spy, tells her that a rogue covert agency called the Division wants to kidnap her because her writing has detailed the outcomes of real covert operations. Eventually, however, Aidan and his mentor, exiled former CIA agent Alfred “Alfie” Solomon (Samuel L. Jackson) admit that this too is a lie, and that Elly is actually herself a spy named Rachel Kyle, Aidan’s former partner and lover.

Five years previously, she was captured and brainwashed by the division, with its leader and head of psychological operations convincing her they were her parents, so they could exploit her knowledge by getting her to publish books. After Rachel and Aidan expose and defeat the Division, Rachel publishes a new Argylle book telling a fictionalized version of the film’s story. In the final scene before the credits, they, (and viewers of the movie), are confused when, during a book reading, a fan played by Cavill asks if Rachel has any questions for him.

What Happens in ‘Argylle’s Mid-Credits Scene?

The mid-credits scene is set 20 years earlier in a bar called The King’s Man. A young man (Louis Partridge) gives the bartender (Ben Daniels) a specific order, and in return is presented with a box in which is a pistol. The young man then introduces himself as “Aubrey Argylle”. Before the credits resume, a line of text onscreen reads “Argylle Book One: – The Movie – Coming Soon.”

This intentionally confounding scene provides a few hints at where the Argylle franchise will be going next, though it naturally also inspires a lot more questions than it answers. Given the way they are presented one after another, the book reading scene and the mid-credits scene suggest that the fan played by Cavill and Partridge’s character may be one and the same and that their history also influenced the books. How exactly that can be the case based on what the film has finally established about Rachel and Aidan’s adventures being the inspiration for the books will presumably be the driving mystery in a subsequent entry in the franchise. In addition to a future film, the mid-credits scene also acknowledges Argylle‘s literary counterpart.

When Argylle’s cast was announced in 2021, the film was described as an adaptation of an upcoming novel of the same name by first-time author Elly Conway. However, reports questioning Conway’s existence began when The Hollywood Reporter published an article stating that reporters for the publication were unable to either make contact with her or verify online information about her, before trailers and other promotional materials for the film revealed that she is, in fact, Howard’s fictional character. Speculation continued about who actually wrote the book, which was published last month, still using the Conway pseudonym, with fans of Taylor Swift concocting theories that she was the author, until novelists Terry Hayes and Tammy Cohen confirmed to The Telegraph that they are the true writers earlier today.

Hayes and Cohen explained that Vaughn suggested the former write an Argylle book, while Vaughn himself was already working on the movie, with the specification that the book wouldn’t be a simple novelization of the film’s story but one of the tales the Elly character would have written about Cavill’s version of Argylle. With this unusual production history in mind, it seems like the mid-credits scene is teasing a new film that is at least partially based on Hayes and Cohen’s book, with either Partridge and/or Cavill playing the Argylle the first film presented as fictional, but who may in fact be real within the film’s universe. While speaking to Polygon, Vaughn confirmed this was the intention. Argylle: Book One is a potential film revolving around the Cavill/Partridge character, while a hypothetical third film would be a more direct sequel to Argylle, presumably returning to the “real world” of the first film and a focus on Rachel and Aidan.

Is ‘Argylle’ in the Kingsman Universe?

Speaking of the film’s universe, the mid-credits scene makes things even more complicated by suggesting that the Argylle films take place in the same world as another Matthew Vaughn franchise. Vaughn is perhaps best known as the director of Kingsman: The Secret Service, a 2015 film based on the comic book series of the same. Another comedic satire of the spy genre which was acclaimed for its over-the-top violence and the unexpected choice of casting Colin Firth as an action hero, Kingsman followed Gary “Eggsy” Unwin (Taron Egerton), a troubled British teenager who joins the elitist super spy organization known as the Kingsman after learning his late father was a member.

The film was followed by a sequel, Kingsman: The Golden Circle in 2017, and a prequel, The King’s Man, which was released in 2021 after several delays. Given Vaughn is the director, the conspicuous naming of the bar in Argylle‘s mid-credits scene suggests that the bartender and the cinematic version of Aubrey Argylle are Kingsman agents, especially given that the organization often uses regular businesses like tailor shops as fronts for its bases in the earlier films. A tease like this was not completely unexpected by film fans who have followed Argylle’s production, as Vaughn confirmed in a 2023 appearance on the Happy Sad Confused podcast that he envisioned the film as taking place in the same fictional universe as Kingsman and a mysterious third prospective franchise, between which he hopes to stage crossovers similar to those seen in the MCU.

The Future of the ‘Argylle’ Franchise Is Already Uncertain

Unfortunately, there’s no guarantee those plans will come to fruition. Although the Argylle novel is available, Vaughn clarified to Polygon that it’s “up to the audience,” whether more installments in the franchise are made, suggesting that approval for future projects depends on the film’s success. Given the largely negative reviews of the film, it being financially successful enough to warrant so many different potential follow-ups is unlikely. The box office failures of several 2023 blockbusters, including two entries in the usually profitable MCU, showed that being part of a major franchise no longer guarantees box office success for films that receive negative reviews. Those who enjoyed the film and/or book might be understandably confused by the many self-aware mysteries the infant franchise has already set up. Audiences may not get the answers they’re hoping for as it’s possible Argylle may end up being the only film in the franchise.

Argylle is in theaters now.

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