Steven Seagal Stages a Comeback with Order of the Dragon, His First Film in Six Years

Steven Seagal has been off the big screen for six years, but he just popped back up with a new action adventure called 'Order of the Dragon'. If your brain immediately jumped to 'Mason Storm', you are not wrong to think of that era — this one is 'Mason Ryker'. Different Mason, same vintage energy.

What this is

The movie comes from director Vjekoslav Katusin, who previously made the horror trio 'Wrongful Death', 'Wrongful Death 2: Bloodlines', and 'Unbound Evil'. He co-wrote 'Order of the Dragon' with Alex 'The White Shark' Pankine (yes, that nickname is in the credits), Jean Rises, and Miroslav Trcak. Katusin also just shared the first-look images on Instagram, which should give you a feel for the throwback vibe they are chasing.

The setup

Two pro hitmen, John Rico and Chang Lee, blow a job, and Lee walks away with a wrecked shoulder. Their boss, Henry Wyatt, gives John one last shot at redemption: fly to Belgrade, Serbia and take out Mason Ryker, the last remaining member — and leader — of a shadowy outfit called the Order of the Dragon. Once John hits Belgrade, it turns into a gauntlet: threats everywhere, the clock ticking, and the nagging suspicion that his boss has been lying about who Ryker really is. To make it messier, Henry unleashes a separate kill squad led by a stone-cold operator named Commander Rouge, with orders to erase both John and Ryker.

Who is who (and where you know them from)

• Ron Smoorenburg ('Out for Vengeance') as John Rico
• Mark Stas ('Bet Dead Casino') as Chang Lee
• Steven Seagal as Mason Ryker — not to be confused with his 'Hard to Kill' character, Mason Storm
• Michel Qissi as Commander Rouge — Qissi played Tong Po in the Van Damme classic 'Kickboxer'
• Michael Pare ('Streets of Fire') also appears

The aim

"I truly believe that Order of the Dragon will create a significant impact in the film industry. Together, we aim to receive the distinctive style of the 80s and 90s, bringing back the action and flair that defined those memorable years."

That is Katusin’s pitch in his own words, and you get the idea: go back to the clenched-jaw, practical-stunt flavor that made those old-school titles pop.

Context check

For anyone who lost track: Seagal stacked up a legit run at the end of the 80s into the early 90s — 'Above the Law', 'Hard to Kill', 'Marked for Death', 'Out for Justice', 'Under Siege' — before the quality got wobbly and the DVD era swallowed most of his output. He has nearly 60 screen acting credits at this point, but a lot of them flew under the radar. 'Order of the Dragon' is his first movie in six years, and it is being released by Retro Gold 63, Shamrock Media, and Dream Team Pictures.

If they really do recapture that late-80s/early-90s charge, I am in. Like a lot of folks, I drifted during the direct-to-video detour, but this one has just enough throwback DNA — and a couple of fun casting swings — to make me curious.