Eddie Murphy Will Reign Again in ‘Coming to America 2’

Obviously someone, somewhere, has been waiting for this moment, and his name is more than likely Eddie Murphy. It would appear that Paramount Pictures is indeed developing a sequel to Coming To America, and Murphy will return to star as Prince Akeem.

Deadline (and pretty much every other outlet) says that Craig Brewer, who just directed Murphy in Dolemite Is My Name, will be helming the picture from the hot seat for Paramount.

Murphy said in a statement:

“After many years of anticipation, I’m thrilled that Coming to America 2 is officially moving forward. We’ve assembled a great team that will be led by Craig Brewer, who just did an amazing job on Dolemite, and I’m looking forward to bringing all these classic and beloved characters back to the big screen.”

Kenya Barris is rewriting a script by original Coming to America writers Barry Blaustein and David Sheffield, so this does have the makings of a true sequel rather than a revisit. Murphy is producing, Barris will be executive producing along with Kevin Misher.

Reportedly, the sequel will focus on Akeem learning about a long lost son, wherein he must return to America to meet his unlikely heir to the throne of Zamunda. Deadline goes on to say that the intention is to bring back the original cast which includes Arsenio Hall as Semmi, Shari Headley, John Amos, and James Earl Jones as the King of Zamunda.

The current goal is a production start sometime in 2019, and we’ll keep you apprised as more information becomes available.