Kristen Wiig maintains that Bridesmaids doesn't need a sequel
Kristen Wiig said what she said with the first Bridesmaids, and that's all there is
There’s a rule in romance that in order to qualify for the genre, the story needs to end in an HEA—a Happily Ever After. Other stories can be romantic, but romance books and romantic comedies in particular need to close out with our heroes walking hand-in-hand into the sunset. That’s why, with a few exceptions, rom-com sequels just don’t work. Thankfully, Kristen Wiig knows that, which is why a Bridesmaids follow-up has “never been a conversation,” she told The Hollywood Reporter. “That story had an end, and it’s so beloved to me for 10 million reasons, and I think it’s okay to just have it exist in the world as it is.”
The rest of the cast has been open to returning for another Bridesmaids, but mostly because they just want to hang out with each other. “That group of women was the most magical thing ever. Almost all of us were really good friends already. I think it was such a magical time,” Melissa McCarthy said to People last year. Rose Byrne also told the outlet she “absolutely would” come back “if all the girls were in,” though she added, “It’s a hard act to follow because the first film was so great. It was so magical and so beloved.”
The romantic and platonic love stories in Bridesmaids all wrapped up with a Happily Ever After, so there’s really no reason to go back and mess with Oscar-nominated perfection. And that’s something Wiig and her writing partner Annie Mumolo have said for years. “We feel like we told that story and we were just so excited to do other things,” Wiig explained during a SiriusXM Town Hall for their film Barb And Star Go To Vista Del Mar (via Us Weekly). Mumolo agreed, “It takes years to get movies made. And Bridesmaids took many years to get made and … because it takes so many years, [we] felt like we purged that out of us.”
Rather than looking back, the Palm Royale star is looking to the future. Wiig shared with THR that she’s working on a new script on her own: “The biggest challenge is just disciplining yourself to sit down and do it. You need to have an actual writing appointment.” She also said, “[Directing] just feels like the next thing for me. The thought of it excites me and scares me, and I think those are two good barometers to try something new.”