The Accountant 2 Turns a Minor Plot Point into Something Big
The Accountant 2 takes a minor plot point from the first film and expands it into one of the most intriguing elements of the series. The Accountant films follow Ben Affleck's Christian Wolff, a skilled accountant and money launderer living a solitary life. Christian was a uniquely compelling riff on the action movie hero archetype, an unexpected enforcer who was as brilliant as he was dangerous – and with none of the forced charm that typically dominates lead characters in those kind of movies.
A New Purpose for Harbor Neuroscience School
One of the biggest changes between the two films is the way one aspect of the first movie's backstory has been given new purpose in the sequel and expanded in an entirely different way. The Harbor Neuroscience School, established in The Accountant, has a more important role in the plot of The Accountant 2.
Introduced as part of Christian Wolff's backstory in The Accountant, Harbor Neuroscience was a school for children with autism where Christian almost attended but his father chose to train him instead. Justine, who is also portrayed as being on the spectrum, worked at the school and became an ally to Christian.
The Accountant 2 turns Harbor Neuroscience into an academy setting that could expand the franchise in plenty of interesting ways. The school has been upgraded in the intervening years, with some students training under Justine, helping analyze information or hack into other tech to assist in Christian's missions.
A Hacker School Like No Other
The kids at Harbor Neuroscience are afforded great little personality beats that help them stand out from the rest of the supporting cast. While they don't get dialogue, their actions speak volumes about their unique perspectives and talents.
Justine's role has been reinvented in The Accountant 2, transforming her into a sort of hacker Dumbledore who encourages her students with friendly competition but does her best to keep the more grisly sights of Christian's work out of their purview.
A New Direction for the Franchise
The expansion of Harbor Neuroscience was a big turn in The Accountant 2, pushing the story into plenty of new directions. Giving Christian a resource like the full Harbor Neuroscience school opens up a lot of potential storytelling avenues for the future of The Accountant franchise.
Christian's connection to the school is one of his most humanizing connections, precisely because it's somewhere that he can understand and that can understand him. His financial support of the school also presents an interesting moral choice to Christian and Justine going forward.
A Potential for New Story Beats in The Accountant 3
Director Bill Dubuque has already said that The Accountant 3 is in development, which could easily build on the second film's expansion of Justine and her students. The children could become a crucial ally in their operation, assisting Justine in her technical support of Christian's missions.
The fact that the school is employing children to carry out criminal acts could get them targeted by the authorities if they're discovered, putting pressure on Justine and cutting off Christian from crucial technical support he often relies on. This raises questions about how Christian will balance his duty as a protector with his responsibility to train and support these young geniuses.