Alan Cumming can’t wait to see what comes next for his first-ever Hollywood role.
It has been more than two years since reports of a Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion sequel started to circulate. The 1997 comedy starring Lisa Kudrow, Mira Sorvino, and Alan Cumming is apparently still in development, though, with Cumming recently saying that he’s excited for a second installment. Back in 2022, Sorvino said that while there was official to announce, a follow-up “might be in the works.” Screenwriter Robin Schiff is reportedly still working on the story. No word on what the new movie might entail; the original centered on a pair of underachieving 28-year-olds who pretended to have impressive careers in order to impress people at their 10-year high school reunion.
The characters of Romy and Michele first appeared in the 1988 stage play Ladies’ Room, written by Schiff and starring Lisa Kurdrow. Sorvino stepped into her role as Romy White in the 1997 film, which was a financial success, but didn’t really set the world on fire until home video, where it became a cult classic.
“It was the first film I ever made in Hollywood, and it was one of the first things I ever read when I came here to sort of whore myself around,” Cumming recently told EW. “It was just so clever and witty. It’s one of these films that some people are obsessed with.”
“I think what’s great about the sequel to Romy and Michele is just going back to something that is so beloved and having a relationship with these characters,” Cumming added. “I actually know what the story is, and it’s really good. So I’m excited. I’m so excited to go back to it.”
The obvious direction for such a film to take would be a follow-up reunion, meeting up with many of the same characters we saw in the first movie and seeing how they’ve grown (or not) in the 25 years since their last appearance. Taking Romy and Michele out of the high school reunion context, though, the characters could be used for any number of situations where their humor would feel a little more fresh than iterating on the exact events of the first movie.
This is obviously not Cumming’s only cult classic role. In addition to Romy and Michele, the star appeared in movies like Josie and the Pussycats, Spice World, and The Anniversary Party (which he also directed), all within about 5 years of Romy.
