Chris Hemsworth has returned as mercenary Tyler Rake in the action-packed teaser trailer for Extraction 2 – after he discovered he is genetically predisposed to Alzheimer’s disease.
The Australian actor, 39, is reportedly not planning on retiring anytime soon but is said to be taking on fewer roles in the future.
In November he revealed he is between ‘eight and ten times’ more likely to develop Alzheimer’s than the general population as he has two copies of the gene APOE4.
But in the new trailer for Netflix’s Extraction 2, Hemsworth once more throws himself into the centre of the action, as he performs his own outrageous stunts.
In the dramatic preview, the actor can be seen throwing punches even as he is set on fire – and later tries to shoot down a helicopter in one of many nail-biting fight scenes.
Centre of the action: Chris Hemsworth returns as Tyler Rake in the official teaser trailer for Extraction 2 – after revealing he is taking a step back from acting following the discovering he is genetically predisposed to Alzheimer’s disease
After barely surviving the events of the first movie, Rake is back as the Australian black ops mercenary and is tasked with another deadly mission: rescuing the battered family of a ruthless Georgian gangster from the prison where they are being held.
Chris stars alongside Golshifteh Farahani, who reprises her role from the first film, as well as Adam Bessa, Olga Kurylenko, Daniel Bernhardt and Tinatin Dalakishvili.
Extraction was released on the streaming giant in 2020 and became the most-watched original film in its history, reaching 99 million households in its first four weeks of release.
Based on the graphic novel Cuidad by Ande Parks, the film was praised for its jam-packed fight scenes, as well as giving Rake emotional depth and backstory.
The Thor star currently has four projects in the works – including an upcoming Avengers sequel where he returns as his character Thor, and an untitled biopic about wrestling icon Hulk Hogan.
However a source told Page Six his schedule is looking clear beyond these films.
‘He doesn’t plan to take on many roles because of [learning about his high risk for] Alzheimer’s,’ an insider told the the publication.
The former Home And Away star told Vanity Fair in November he’s ‘not talking about retiring by any means,’ but taking ‘a more curated approach to things’.
Action film: Extraction 2 sees the black ops mercenary fight to rescue the family of a Georgian gangster
Incredible: Chris performs his own stunts in the film, which includes throwing punches as he is set on fire
Action-packed: He later shoots down a helicopter – in one of many nail-biting fight scenes
In the same interview, Chris disclosed he’s at higher risk of suffering Alzheimer’s disease after filming a confronting episode about death for his Disney+ docuseries Limitless.
After having bloodwork done for the program, he was informed he is ‘between eight and 10 times’ likelier to develop Alzheimer’s than the general population, because he is one of only two to three percent of people with two copies of the gene APOE4.
‘Yeah, there was an intensity to navigating it,’ he said.
‘Most of us, we like to avoid speaking about death in the hope that we’ll somehow avoid it.’
The former Home and Away star added: ‘We all have this belief that we’ll figure it out. Then to all of a sudden be told some big indicators are actually pointing to this as the route which is going to happen, the reality of it sinks in. Your own mortality.’
The actor reacted to the news of his own predisposition to Alzheimer’s by following a healthier lifestyle.
‘For me, the positive of it was like: “Right, if I didn’t know this information, I wouldn’t have made the changes I made,”‘ he said.
‘I just wasn’t aware of any of it, so now I feel thankful that I have in my arsenal the sort of tools to best prepare myself and prevent things happening in that way.’
Leading role: Chris returns as the film’s protagonist, but is said to be taking on fewer roles in the future
New release: After the succession of the first Extraction film in 2020, Netflix will release the second film on June 16
Family man: Chris with his wife Elsa Pataky and their twin sons, Tristan and Sasha in June 2022
Discovery: Following Chris’ stardom and his superhero movies, Limitless follows the star as he pushes against the boundaries of what his body can do
As for how he coped emotionally, ‘very quickly it became a self deprecating sort of joke, if you will. It’s just the way I am, my family, there’s a sense of humour.’
As a result, Chris lives in dread of developing the illness and forgetting his wife Elsa Pataky as well as their daughter India, 10, and twin sons Sasha and Tristan, eight.
‘The idea that I won’t be able to remember the life I’ve experienced, or my wife, my kids, is probably my biggest fear,’ he said.
Chris, Elsa and their three children reside in a $30million mansion in Broken Head, near the celebrity enclave of Byron Bay.
Extraction 2 will be released on Netflix on June 16.