It's not uncommon to see an older film get an apparently random sequel out of nowhere nowadays. Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget released last year, for example, well over 20 years after the first movie came to cinemas.
A sequel to A Knight's Tale was apparently pitched at one point, too. According to screenwriter Brian Helgeland, sequel ideas for the Heath Ledger medieval movie were in the works right after they finished the first film. "We were already thinking about making the sequel as a pirate film," Helgeland told Inverse.
He then went onto explain that Count Adhemar would have kidnapped Jocelyn and taken her to Constantinople, and it was up to the gang to sail over to the city and get her back. Treasure maps and all the usual malarkey were involved, but Sony didn't like the script.
Then, Helgeland was given another idea, long after the initial sequel was denied. "There was another idea pitched to me that was all about William's daughter," Helgeland explained. "Paul Bettany called me after he had dinner with Alan Tudyk, and the guys had an idea that William had passed away during a war. However, William has a teenage daughter who wants to joust, but she's not allowed to because she's a woman. She tracks down the gang and they agree to teach her how to joust, but she has to hide who she is. They cut her hair short and she speaks with a deep voice, et cetera."
"I pitched it to Sony because they own the rights, and it seemed like they were interested in making it with Netflix, releasing it as a Netflix movie. My understanding is that Netflix tested this sequel idea through their algorithms, which indicated that it would not be successful. A Knight's Tale seems to get more popular with every passing year; it's the strangest thing."
Well, there you have it. The plot does sound interesting, although it's hard to picture A Knight's Tale without our dashing hero Heath Ledger at the fore.