Karolyn Grimes, one of the last surviving members of the It’s A Wonderful Life cast, said she would be interested in seeing the further adventures of the Bailey family, 75 years after Frank Capra’s holiday classic opened in theaters. Grimes was reportedly going to be involved in a sequel back in 2013, but that never came to fruition. It’s A Wonderful Life hit theaters in 1946 and is shown on television annually by NBC now.
“I think a sequel might be kind of fun,” Grimes, 81, told the New York Daily News over the weekend. She said a sequel would tell the “rest of the story” of George Bailey’s family. “The kids would grow up and they’d have lives that are different. I think there’s a story there,” she explained. However, Grimes said she might be “a little long in the tooth” to participate in the film herself.
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It’s A Wonderful Life stars James Stewart as George Bailey, a man who gave up on his personal dreams to help his friends and family in the fictional small town of Bedford Falls, New York. He considers taking his own life until a guardian angel (Henry Travers) shows him how his loved ones would be worse off without him. Although the film wasn’t a big hit when it was released, it was nominated for five Oscars and became a Christmas classic thanks to countless airings on television after it was thought to be in the public domain. Today, the film is distributed on home video by Paramount Pictures and is readily available on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray, Blu-ray, and DVD. This year, it will air on NBC on Saturday, Dec. 4, and Friday, Dec. 24 at 8 p.m. ET.
Back in November 2013, Variety reported that a sequel, It’s a Wonderful Life: The Rest of the Story, was in the works. Allen J. Schwalb of Star Partners was financing the project and Grimes was going to play George’s daughter again. The movie would focus on George’s grandson, also named George, who will also learn what the world would be like if he was never born. Carol Coombs, 86, and Jimmy Hawkins, 80, were also approached to star in the sequel. Coombs and Hawkins starred as Grimes’ on-screen siblings in the original film.
At the time, Grimes was also excited about a sequel idea. “I’ve probably read close to 20 scripts over the years suggesting a sequel to It’s a Wonderful Life, but none of them were any good,” she told Variety in 2013. “The script by Bob Farnsworth and Martha Bolton was wonderful, and I wanted to be involved with his version of the film immediately.”
However, the project never happened, leaving us with just the original classic to enjoy over and over again. That’s a good thing, especially during difficult times, according to Grimes. “I think a lot of people turn to this film to give them hope and it’s a film that touches peoples’ lives,” she told the Daily News. “It’s very positive, but there is a sense of negativity in the film, too. But everybody survives it and I think that’s a reminder of today’s times that if we have hope and if we try to make a difference if we give of ourselves, I think it can all turn around.”
While it’s no sequel, the Christmas classic is getting a bit of the Ted Lassoย treatment care of actorย Jason Sudeikisย with the second annual virtual table read benefitingย The Ed Asner Family Center (TEAFC). In a press release announced earlier this month, Sudeikis will lead an all-star cast including the likes ofย Jean Smart,ย Rosario Dawson, Mark Hamill, Martin Sheen,ย Mandy Patinkin, George Wendt, Lou Diamond Phillips, Phil Lamarr, Ben Mankiewicz, Ron Funches, Ed Harris and more on Dec. 5. For tickets, sponsorship and event informationย visit the website for more details and how to watch.
