Josh Lucas Reveals Why 'Sweet Home Alabama 2' Hasn't Happened

The Forever Purge star Josh Lucas never shies away when questions about a sequel to the beloved 2002 romantic comedy Sweet Home Alabama come up. In his latest comments on a potential Sweet Home Alabama 2, Lucas said the ball was in Reese Witherspoon's court, and she might be too busy to make it. Witherspoon herself showed how she still holds the movie in high regard with a Throwback Thursday tribute this week.

"Look, I would love to do the sequel," Lucas said on SiriusXM's Pop Culture Spotlight with Jessica Shaw on Tuesday, reports Us Weekly. "The issue is Reese's got a book club. And I'm saying that like laughingly, but Reese is, you know, I've heard like, 'Oh, you can talk to her about stuff five years from now.' You know, she's a mogul."

"And back when I was doing Sweet Home Alabama, I, for some reason, remember telling the director or somebody speaking about her, but I said, 'I bet this woman ends up running a movie studio one day.' And she's even beyond that at this point," Lucas continued. "I mean it's extraordinary and not surprising either, at all."

It's true that Witherspoon is now a movie mogul. She has her own media company, Hello Sunshine, which she co-founded with Seth Rodsky in 2016. Big Little Lies, The Morning Show, Little Fires Everywhere, Wild, and Gone Girl have all been produced by Hello Sunshine or its subsidiary Pacific Standard. Hello Sunshine is also co-producing the upcoming Amazon limited series Daisy Jones & The Six, starring Riley Keough.

Sweet Home Alabama hit theaters in 2002 and was a huge hit at the time, grossing $180.6 million worldwide. Witherspoon starred as Melanie Carmichael, a successful New York fashion designer who goes back to her hometown in Alabama after getting engaged to Andrew Hennings (Patrick Dempsey), only to realize she still loves her childhood crush, Jake Perry (Lucas). The movie was directed by Andy Tennant. Witherspoon clearly still enjoys the movie, as she posted stills from the film on Thursday, prompting a response from Dakota Fanning, who played the younger Melanie.

Over the years, fans have hoped for a sequel, and Witherspoon and Lucas have both helped fan the flames of speculation. In 2016, Witherspoon said she would be interested, but a sequel was not in the works. Lucas brought up the idea twice in 2019, even revealing a proposed story. "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 on Good Morning America at the time. "And Patrick Dempsey's character is still in the picture... But that's just a proposal."

Lucas stars in the latest chapter of The Purge franchise, The Forever Purge, which is now in theaters. Lucas also had a recurring role on Yellowstone as the younger version of Kevin Costner's John Dutton. His other recent credits include Ford v. Ferrari, The Mysteries of Laura, The Secret: Dare to Dream, and She Dies Tomorrow.