London, Apr 30 (IANS): Welsh film director Gareth Evans says he wrote the script for "The Raid 2: Berandal" before he penned the screenplay for "The Raid".

"The Raid" was one of the best and most brutal action movies to hit the big screen last year. The sequel sees him reunite with actor Iko Uwais, who will reprise the central role of Rama in the film.

"I’d written 'The Raid 2: Berandal' before 'The Raid', so it was like a pre-existing script, and in that script, the hero was an ordinary guy who found himself in prison and ended up befriending the son of a mob boss," femalefirst.co.uk quoted Evans as saying.

"But when we were making 'The Raid', I thought this could work as the sequel if Rama was an undercover cop. It raised the stakes, and it was quite a long process to rewrite it," he said.

"The writing process was like playing Jenga - you had to be careful that nothing fell apart as you started changing the narrative and added new characters," he added.

"The Raid 2: Berandal" is releasing this year.