Warning! Spoilers ahead for Den of Thieves 2: Pantera

A common plot problem that tends to arise in action crime franchises was brilliantly solved by an important scene in Den of Thieves 2: Pantera. Christian Gudegast’s 2025 sequel saw the return of O’Shea Jackson Jr.’s Donnie Wilson and Gerard Butler’s “Big Nick” O’Brien, this time aligned on the same side of a robbery of the ultra-secure World Diamond Center. As an LASD detective, Nick’s defection to join Donnie and the gang of international thieves known as the Panthers is surprising, but with alimony piling up, it makes sense he’d want in on a big score.

Nick’s interest in the financial gains of a mᴀssive heist raises a question broached by many action crime franchises: why keep stealing if you’re already rich from getting away with the first score? Theoretically, when characters make off with millions of dollars, the next move should be to disappear and enjoy the money forever, which oftentimes forces a more convoluted reason for the next heist or robbery in each sequel. Den of Thieves 2: Pantera managed to get out in front of this problem in a key scene featuring only Nick and Donnie.

Donnie Explains The Real Reason He Does Heists In Den Of Thieves 2

For Donnie, It Was Never About The Money

After they are tossed out of the nightclub with the rest of the Panthers for fighting Marko and his group, Donnie and Nick drunkenly wander the streets of Nice until they stop for a late night meal. As they eat, they discuss their similar upbringings in the poorer parts of Los Angeles, and realize they have a lot in common despite the different life paths they wound up on. While Nick relays the experience that made him want to pursue bad guys, Donnie talks about an instance in which he broke into someone’s house out of necessity, growing up as poor as he did.

That leads to him describing why it is he works up elaborate heists and continues to steal despite coming away with $30 million from the brilliant Den of Thieves heist at the LA Federal Reserve. For Donnie, it’s not about the money, and never has been. As intelligent and in control as he is, there are plenty of avenues through which he could make enough money to live beyond comfortably. For him, it’s about the thrill of the heist itself, the planning and execution of getting into a place he’s not supposed to be, taking something and getting away clean.

Donnie’s Heist Goal Helps Make More Den Of Thieves Movies Possible

Theoretically, Donnie Has No Reason To Stop

With Donnie’s goal being the thrill of the heist and not actual financial gain, there are essentially unlimited possibilities for the Den of Thieves franchise. The ending of Den of Thieves 2: Pantera sees Donnie recruited by the Mafia so that he can steal for them, and that’s surely the direction that the next chapter of the franchise will go. It’s likely that Big Nick returns, although it remains to be seen if he returns as an enemy of Donnie or an ally, considering how guilty he felt after turning him in (and his possible role in Donnie’s escape).

With Donnie not needing a financial reason to rob something, it also opens the door to him stealing things that aren’t money or precious jewels. Donnie’s specialty is breaking into places that can’t be broken into, so really any secure facility on Earth is fair game, like breaking into a jail to help someone escape, or getting into a government or military facility to steal secrets and intel. It was a brilliant choice to have Donnie completely non-reliant on financial gain, and that’s why the entertaining Den of Thieves franchise has a bright future.