The holidays may be over, but fans of 2005’s The Family Stone have one big gift to look forward to: A follow-up film is officially in the works. Writer and director Thomas Bezucha announced that he’s penning a Family Stone sequel in November, a month after the death of Diane Keaton, who played matriarch Sybil Stone. And in a recent interview, star Sarah Jessica Parker voiced her support for another film.
“I’m so excited,” she told Variety at the Golden Globes’ inaugural Golden Eve on Jan. 6. “It’s a rather bittersweet quandary given the loss of Diane Keaton. But it was a very special group of actors, and prior to Diane’s passing, there had been conversations with everybody, so I hope that we’ll be able to. The hardest thing is everybody’s schedules.”
A Poignant Reunion
With his sequel, Bezucha said he wants to honor Keaton’s memory. “I’ve been haunted by the loss of Sybil for months now while I worked on it, and so this was a blow on a tender bruise already,” Bezucha told CNN of Keaton’s passing. “Mentally, I’ve been spending time in that house where I’ve been missing her for a while already.”
Indeed, the majority of The Family Stone follows a woman named Meredith (Sarah Jessica Parker) who spends the most uncomfortable holiday imaginable at her boyfriend’s family home. Things are ultimately smoothed over — and she starts dating her boyfriend’s brother — but when the family reunites at Christmas a year later, it’s revealed that Sybil has passed away from breast cancer.
In an Instagram post following Keaton’s death, Parker remembered the legendary actor as an “exquisite person,” with whom she’d also worked on First Wives Club. “I will cherish those memories on set as well her touching, delightful and perfectly own cinematic career.”
What Will The Family Stone Sequel Be About?
Bezucha hasn’t revealed too many details about the Family Stone sequel yet. However, he did recently tell Vanity Fair that he plans for the whole cast to be involved. “Anybody you met in the first movie is in the second one,” he said.
He was first motivated to write a sequel film following a lunch with Dermot Mulroney (who plays Meredith’s temporary beau, Everett) two years ago. “The first words out of his mouth were, ‘We have to do a sequel,’” he told the magazine. “I remember thinking, ‘Why do I keep saying no?’ I have to deliver on the script, but in theory, everybody is like, ‘Tell me when and where and I’ll be there.’”
So you can expect to see all of the familiar faces back for the sequel. Plot-wise, though, “You’ll be surprised on Christmas morning,” Bezucha joked.
