Blake Lively and Anna Kendrick Reuniting for ‘A Simple Favor’ Sequel

A Simple Favor 2 is on its way. Blake Lively and Anna Kendrick are reuniting for a sequel to the critically acclaimed movie, Deadline reported Wednesday. Paul Feig is returning to direct and produce the film for Lionsgate and Amazon Studios alongside Laura Fischer, with Jessica Sharzer writing the screenplay and executive producing. 

A Simple Favor debuted to box office success in 2018, earning more than $97 million at the worldwide box office and a Certified Fresh status on Rotten Tomatoes. The first film follows Stephanie (Kendrick), a single mother with a parenting vlog who becomes friends with upper-class mother Emily (Lively), who seems to be hiding a secret. When Emily disappears, Stephanie is on the case to find out what happened. Fans have been clamoring for a sequel after the ending of the first movie left itself open for more intrigue at the end.  

Lively and Kendrick were praised for their on-screen chemistry in the film, which goes all the way back to when the two met in their teenage years. “The first time I met you, we were, like, 18 or 19, and I remember being nervous,” Lively told Kendrick during a conversation for BuzzFeed in 2018. “We met through friends, and it was right after the premiere of Rocket Science, and you were just so good and I was just like, oh you’re so funny and charming. I was like, ‘Wow, this girl’s really cool.’”

“Aw, she’s nice,” responded Kendrick, when went on to add: “It was great to have that kind of partner-in-crime vibe with you. Sometimes you work with somebody, and they’re great – they’re really, genuinely great – and they just have a very different working style, let’s say. You know, they’re the kind of person that you can’t come to them in between and be like, ‘Yo, let me tell you what just happened.’ So that was great.”

Kendrick said of making Feig’s vision of taking a straight thriller and adding a comedic twist was “really hard” to nail. “The tone of the movie – we talked about that basically every day – like, what is the tone of the movie? We were playing with all these different things,” she explained. “There were definitely times when I was like, ‘Paul, you definitely want the audience to like the protagonist of the film, right? We’re not doing a weird thing where the audience is supposed to be like, ‘God, the lead of the film is awful!’”

“I’m so controlling, and all these things that women aren’t supposed to be,” she continued. “Honestly, it was really challenging to try to make her human – to make that show through the cracks of the incredibly irritating facade that she puts on.”