This is Aging: Judd Apatow Wants to Make a 50-Something ‘This is 40’ Sequel…Eventually
Time flies when you’re raising a family.
Director Judd Apatow is developing a sequel to the Paul Rudd/Leslie Mann vehicle This is 40, to be titled, of course, This is 50. The proposed sequel to the modest 2012 hit would pick up ten years from the close of the original, with Rudd and Mann returning.
Apatow told The Wrap that he’s been wanting to do the sequel since 2013, and that now is the time to start working on it. “I’ve always wanted to make This Is 50 and it is time. I couldn’t have done it five years ago and I can’t do it five years from now, so I’ve been outlining that and hope it’s something that we get to do. I feel like [This Is 40] has really aged well, and it always feels like everyone watches it when they turn 40 and they go, ‘Oh, I understand it all now’ (laughs). So I’m enthusiastic about putting that together.”
This is 40 was a spinoff of sorts, taking characters from Apatow’s movie Knocked Up to explore married middle-aged life. While Knocked Up focuses more on Seth Rogan and Katherine Heigl as they attempt to come to terms with the repercussions of a drunken one-night stand that results in an unintended pregnancy, This is 40 switches the focus over to Pete and Debbie, as the long-time married couple struggle with the idea of turning 40.
Apatow may not be starting the new project right away, though; he said it’s one of two ideas he’s mulling. “I’m hoping that comes together. I have an idea that I really like for it,” he said. Apatow has a multi-year deal with Universal and his film Bros with Billy Eichner is in postproduction at the studio now.
His next release is The Bubble, a comedy about a group of actors trying to complete a film while quarantined in a hotel, coming to Netflix in April. The film stars the director’s daughter Iris Apatow, as well as David Duchovny, Pedro Pascal, Benedict Cumberbatch, Karen Gillan, Kate McKinnon, Leslie Mann, Fred Armisen, and Keegan-Michael Key.