LCU timeline - How does Thalapathy Vijay's Leo fit in with Vikram and Kaithi?

Whether or not Leo, starring Thalapathy Vijay, is part of Lokesh Kanagaraj's cinematic universe, in short LCU, became one of the highly debated questions since the movie went into production. Knowing the amount of curiosity surrounding that question, Lokesh Kanagaraj and other people who assisted with the movie never answered it.

The LCU-Leo connect became one of the closely guarded pop cultural secrets this year. Even after actor-politician Udhayanidhi Stalin confirmed that Leo is an extension of LCU in his tweet just hours before the movie's release, Lokesh continued to evade a direct answer. Even on the eve of the release, Lokesh released a statement asking the audiences to find an answer for themselves after watching the movie.

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"And to answer all your questions of whether this film comes under 'LCU' or not, you will find out in a few hours," Lokesh said.

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Leo is the new addition to LCU

However, it's no longer a secret. We can now confidently confirm that Leo is indeed part of the same universe as Kamal Haasan's Vikram and Karthi's Kaithi. Officially, Leo could be designated as the third installment in the LCU series.

When you watch the movie, you will understand why Lokesh wanted to keep it a secret till its release. Because when you watch the movie without the prior knowledge about its LCU-link, you may enjoy crossover characters featured in Leo a little bit more.

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And we are not going to spoil the surprises for you by discussing all the references that connect these three LCU movies. However, we can answer one question about the movie's timeline: when do the events in Leo occur in relation to those in Kaithi and Vikram?

It's suffice to say that Leo is not a sequel or a direct continuation that follows the aftermath of the events depicted in Kaithi and Vikram. The film takes place in a different timeline. But, the common narrative thread that connects all these storylines is the theme of the war on drugs.

You can be assured that somewhere in the future, you will see an epic face-off involving Vijay's Leo, Kamal Haasan's Vikram, Karthi's Dilli and of coruse Suriya's Rolex.