Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively are officially reuniting with director Paul Feig for a sequel to smash-hit black comedy thriller A Simple Favor. The 2018 release proved to be an all-round smash for Lionsgate at the time, earning itself a near-perfect Rotten Tomatoes score and bringing home just shy of $100 million at the box office. It’s no shock that a follow-up is on its way, then, it’s just surprising it took four years for it to happen.
As per Deadline, the two leads and Feig are all set to return for the project, which is the result of a partnership between Lionsgate and Amazon Studios. So a streaming release on Prime Video seems inevitable. As well as helming, Feig will produce through his Feigco Entertainment banner along with Laura Fischer. Jessica Sharzer is likewise back on board to pen the screenplay and executive produce.
The original film, as based on the book of the same name by Darcey Bell, followed Kendrick as Stephanie, a single mom and vlogger who becomes unlikely friends with the glamorous and mysterious Emily (Lively). One day, Emily asks Stephanie the eponymous simple favor — to pick her kid up from school for her. But the favor spirals into a dark mystery when Emily vanishes without a trace. It also starred Henry Golding, Linda Cardellini, and Jean Smart. No story details for the sequel have been revealed as yet.
This Simple Favor news comes hot on the heels of the announcement that Lively is set to make her directorial debut with Seconds, a comic book adaptation written by Edgar Wright. Kendrick, meanwhile, is currently shooting another thriller film, Alice, Darling. Feig’s next movie, family fantasy The School for Good and Evil, is due to hit Netflix in late 2022. He’s also still working on his Universal horror flick, Dark Army.