By Prince Hakeem
As the premiere of the Coming to America sequel fast approaches, audiences and fans heard from the titular comedian lead describe the journey it took for this return to Zamunda to happen.
During a New York Times profile interview alongside co-star and longtime comedic friend Arsenio Hall, Eddie Murphy detailed how he and the original film producers never thought about doing a Coming to America sequel.
“The way the story ended was kind of like, ‘And they lived happily ever after.’ Then all this time passed and the movie became this cult thing,” Murphy said.
It wasn’t until he saw how much of a beloved classic the film had become, that he began to consider stepping back into that world.
“Catchphrases from the movie start working their way into the culture. Stores turning themselves into McDowell’s. I see Beyoncé and Jay-Z dressed up like the Zamunda characters for Halloween.”
At one point, Murphy began to hear pitches from several directors on what the sequel would look like. One of them was Ryan Coogler. He pitched the film starring Michael B Jordan. In the end, that idea didn’t materialize.
“[Coogler] had an idea for Michael B. Jordan to play my son and he would be looking for a wife,” Murphy recalled. “I was like, then the movie would be about the son, it’s not our characters, we already did that. It didn’t come together.”
Considering the images we’ve seen from the trailers thus far, I’d say ‘Coming 2 America will be just fine.
