Chadwick Boseman Almost Starred in an L.A. Confidential Sequel with Russell Crowe and Guy Pearce

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L.A. Confidential almost got a sequel before Warner Bros. decided to pass on the film, according to screenwriter Brian Helgeland.

While speaking with The Ringer for an interview earlier this month, Helgeland, 60, chatted about potential plans for a follow-up to the 1997 crime film.

According to the outlet, Helgeland — who won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay at the 1998 Oscars for the movie — would reunite original film costars Russell Crowe and Guy Pearce, alongside new addition Chadwick Boseman, who would play a young police officer.

The story, per The Ringer, would be set in the mid-1970s and would be crafted with L.A. Confidential novelist, James Ellroy.

"We worked the whole thing out," Helgeland said. "It was great. And Warners passed."

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L.A. Confidential, which follows a group of LAPD officers investigating a series of murders in the 1950s, was a critical and box office success.

The film became a nine-time Oscar nominee — including for Best Picture — though it only won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Supporting Actress for Kim Basinger's performance as Lynn Bracken.

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Films and television series inspired by the movie have been tossed around over the years, per IndieWire, though no attempts have successfully come to fruition.

Back in 2012, director Luca Guadagnino was set to helm a prequel movie, titled The Big Nowhere, though it never came to be. Similarly, a television pilot based on the film from Ellroy, 73, was shot for CBS, though the network passed on it and plans to get it to another network did not work out, the outlet added.

RELATED VIDEO: Chadwick Boseman, Star of Black Panther, Dies at 43 After 4-Year Cancer Battle

Should Helgeland ever get the opportunity to pitch his L.A. Confidential sequel once more, plans would have to change, however, given that Boseman died back in 2020.

The Black Panther star died at his home surrounded by family after a years-long battle with colon cancer, his team wrote on the star's Instagram page last August.

"It is with immeasurable grief that we confirm the passing of Chadwick Boseman," the Instagram post said. "⁣Chadwick was diagnosed with stage III colon cancer in 2016, and battled with it these last 4 years as it progressed to stage IV."

"A true fighter, Chadwick persevered through it all, and brought you many of the films you have come to love so much. From Marshall to Da 5 Bloods, August Wilson's Ma Rainey's Black Bottom and several more, all were filmed during and between countless surgeries and chemotherapy."

In addition to his starring role in the blockbuster Marvel movies, Boseman is also known for portraying several historical figures, including Jackie Robinson in 42, Thurgood Marshall in Marshall and James Brown in Get On Up.