‘It’s a hard act to follow’: Rose Byrne makes it clear what it’d take for her to return for a ‘Bridesmaids’ sequel

Bridesmaids easily stands out as one of the best comedies to come out in the last decade or so. It stars a bevy of hilarious women including Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, and Rose Byrne. It made more than $300 million on a $32 million budget and it has the distinction of featuring one of the most hilarious stomach emergency scenes of all time. Why isn’t there a sequel? Byrne has an answer for that.

The talented actress spoke with People recently about the 2011 movie and why so many people still love it and talk to her about it. When asked whether she would be into making a sequel, her answer was clear and unequivocal — of course she would.

“If all the girls were in, I absolutely would,” she told the magazine. Byrne played Helen, a straight-laced friend of the bride, Lillian (Maya Rudolph), who clashes with Annie (Wiig) over wedding planning and general existential angst. McCarthy was so well-received in the film, she got an Oscar nomination and jump-started a movie career of her own.

Byrne realizes that Bridesmaids captured lightning in a bottle, and that kind of thing doesn’t happen very often.

“It’s a hard act to follow because the first film was so great,” she said. “It was so magical and so beloved.”

That doesn’t mean she doesn’t want to try.

“Maybe we could do a different movie together. A reimagining of something. But I miss them all. I saw Kristen Wiig recently. It was so lovely to see her. I hadn’t seen her for so long, and they’ve all got such a special place in my heart.”

The movie had such an impact, she said, that the role of Helen is one she’s remembered for the most, especially from a specific age group.

“It depends on the demographic, honestly. But if there’s a young girl or a woman between the ages of about 25 and 45, 50, I know it’s going to be a Bridesmaids reference.”

There have been similar sentiments from McCarthy, who also starred with Byrne in the 2015 movie Spy.

“I would do a Bridesmaids sequel this afternoon, right now,” she said. “That group of women was the most magical thing ever. Almost all of us were really good friends already. I think it was such a magical time.”

McCarthy also said filming “that” scene with the food poisoning was “so funny” because “anyone who wasn’t on-camera was usually bent over and just shaking. None of us were behaving.”

Byrne can be seen in the new Apple TV Plus series Platonic with Seth Rogen.