Considered the perfect millennial comedy film by countless – present company included – and the funniest movie by science, there’s been quite a demand for Superbad 2 ever since the original Judd Apatow-produced film’s theatrical run in 2007. The only issue? Aside from the fact pretty much everyone involved has vastly outgrown the highly-quotable project, rumours surrounding a sequel have historically been shut down in swift fashion. In a recent interview with W Magazine, however, Jonah Hill offered fans a glimmer of hope. That’s right. Superbad 2 could happen — under one specific condition.
When prompted about a follow-up to his breakthrough role as Seth – based on Seth Rogen in his youth – alongside Michael Cera as Evan – based on Rogen’s childhood friend/creative partner Evan Goldberg at the same age – Emma Stone as Seth’s love interest Jules, and of course, Christopher Mintz-Plasse as the iconic Fogell/McLovin… here’s what the Don’t Look Up star revealed:
I haven’t pitched this to anybody. What I want to do is when we’re like 80, do a Superbad 2. Like… “old-folks-home Superbad.” Our spouses die and we’re single again. That’s what I want Superbad 2 to be, and that’s the only way I would ever make it.
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Previous to Hill’s proposal for Dirty Grandpa meets The Bucket List, Mintz-Plasse offered his two cents on a potential Superbad 2.
“I’ve heard from some of the people who made the first one, and I don’t think they want to touch it,” the McLovin actor told 98.1 WOGL radio host Glenn Kalina almost a year ago.
“I think they kind of like where it’s sitting. And sometimes, if you make a sequel to things, it can kind of dampen the first one. I think they just want to let it be… If there was a way to do it, [a female version] would be the way, for sure.”
Judd Apatow himself was initially keen to develop Superbad 2 almost immediately after the first a la Lord of the Rings. Sadly, not a single soul seemed awfully keen on the prospect.
“I always wanted to do a sequel to Superbad, but I couldn’t convince anybody,” The 40-Year-Old Virgin and Knocked Up director tells Cinema Blend.
“The actors, no one with Superbad thought we should do another Superbad. But I wanted to do Superbad in college desperately, but no one would listen to me.”
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Apatow later explained the reason why he was practically leaping at the opportunity for such an undertaking essentially came down to how much he enjoyed spending time with the cast, crew, and characters who were responsible for making Superbad (2007) so magical.
“I love characters, so I love returning to characters.”
Then there’s Seth Rogen, who also starred as the wildly incompetent Officer Michaels in addition to penning the story with Evan Goldberg while they were teenagers. One half of the genius duo behind this headline-making flick admitted it’s one movie he’d “100% probably never touch” in terms of revisiting the franchise for a sequel, spin-off, or reboot.
“Honestly, I don’t think it requires improvement or anything to be built upon it,” Rogen stated back in 2020.
“I’m unbelievably proud of it. It really holds up – people still watch it, high school kids come up to me telling me that they watched it for the first time and how they loved it. It’s worked its way into being viewed as one of the better high school movies that’s out there.”
“I’m so terrified of subtracting from it in any way with a bad sequel or spinoff that I’d never do it. I have so few actual good accomplishments that I’m horrified to fuck with the ones I have.”
But like we mentioned earlier, regardless of whatever conditions are met, whatever minds are changed, and whatever fears are put to ease, the harsh reality comes down to this: the Superbad 2 ship has well and truly sailed. Take Jonah Hill, for example. In the decade and a half since portraying Seth, the man has taken a more serious pathway in his artistic endeavours ever since.
For every 21 Jump Street, How To Train Your Dragon, and Sausage Party, the fully-fledged thespian makes time for Bennett Miller’s Moneyball, Martin Scorsese’s Wolf of Wall Street, as well as his own spectacular feature-length directorial debut Mid90s – produced in collaboration with indie powerhouse A24. With time, both his oeuvre and dramatic prestige will only trend upwards, leaving very little to no time/space/whatever for any version of Superbad 2. College, geriatric, female, or otherwise.
Superbad celebrates its 15th anniversary this year.
