In today’s entirely unsurprising bit of news: The Crazy Rich Asians sequel that everyone expected is coming is already in the works. The groundbreaking hit featuring an all-Asian cast has dominated the box office during its first week in theaters, making it one of the biggest romantic comedy openings in years—one that seems prime for its own franchise.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Warner Bros. has started moving forward on a follow-up that would reunite the team behind Crazy Rich Asians for a sequel based on the second book in author Kevin Kwan’s Crazy Rich Asians trilogy, China Rich Girlfriend, with director Jon M. Chu onboard to helm the project again. Screenwriters Peter Chiarelli and Adele Lim—the pair who first adapted Crazy Rich Asians—will also pen the sequel script, with actors Constance Wu, Henry Golding, and Michelle Yeoh already in talks to return.
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“Making a sequel won’t be a cynical play,” producer Brad Simpson told Deadline during a recent interview, since Kevin Kwan’s book trilogy always framed Crazy Rich Asians as the first part of a longer story. All the sequel has to do now is follow the “roadmap” Kwan laid out, Simpson said.
The sequel is still in the works and has yet to get the official green light from Warner Bros. to go into production, but it would likely follow China Rich Girlfriend and focus on a budding love storybetween Henry’s cousin Astrid (Gemma Chan) and Charlie Wu (Harry Shum Jr.), as well as shift settings from Singapore to China with Rachel in search of her father, Deadline reports.
With the screenwriting already in the works, most of the cast in talks to return, and audiences clearly hungry for more inclusive, diverse films, a sequel is almost certainly a sure thing.
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