Is a 'Sweet Home Alabama' Sequel in the Works?

Josh Lucas has been talking up a sequel to the Reese Witherspoon-starring Sweet Home Alabama for [...]

Josh Lucas has been talking up a sequel to the Reese Witherspoon-starring Sweet Home Alabama for some time now, and claimed in his latest interview that he "extensively" discussed it with director Andy Tennant.

"I've absolutely said yes," Lucas told Good Morning America Wednesday. "He and I discussed it extensively, so we're lobbying the world to join us."

Lucas understands that Witherspoon might be busy with everything else going on in her career, but he said Tennant has an interesting idea for a sequel.

"The proposal — that the director had which was quite interesting, is that my character [Jake] is back in Alabama and Reese's character [Melanie] is back in New York with our kids and we're divorced, so their whole life is super complicated," Lucas said. "And Patrick Dempsey's character is still in the picture... But that's just a proposal."

This is not the first time Lucas has talked about making a Sweet Home Alabama 2. Back in July 2018, he told Access Hollywood he reached out to Witherspoon and said she is interested as well.

"I've even reached out to Reese, and I know Reese has said as well — it's an iconic film," Lucas said at the time. "I would love it because I would love to see where these characters ended up or where they are at this point in their lives."

At that point, Lucas' idea for the plot also involved their characters getting divorced.

"I kind of love the idea that they have actually divorced and been divorced for a while and he wants her back," Lucas explained. "Kind of to realize what he's lost again and that the kids even, that their lives have separated in some ways, and I think that's sort of the magic of that story is that there's an eternal love there."

Lucas said the bond the two characters share, one they have had since they were children, will still be there.

Sweet Home Alabama hit theaters in 2002, just as Witherspoon's career was really starting to take off. Today, Witherspoon is one of the busiest actresses and producers in Hollywood, and recently finished work on Big Little Lies Season 2.

"Obviously, Reese is developing this sort of extraordinary other career and is obviously a pretty busy person," Lucas said in 2018. "When I worked with her, you had that feeling about her even back then that she had this — I said early on I thought Reese would run a studio, and I think, in a sense, that's kind of where she's working her life towards in very big, grandiose and wonderful ways."

The original film was directed by Tennant and written by C. Jay Cox and distributed by Disney's Buena Vista Pictures. The cast also included Patrick Dempsey, Candice Bergen, Mary Kay Place, Jean Smart and Fred Ward. Although it earned mixed reviews from critics, it was a huge hit at the box office, taking in $130 million.

Witherspoon will next be seen in Big Little Lies Season 2, which debuts on HBO on June 9. Lucas' next movie, Breakthrough, is now in theaters.

Photo credit: Disney

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