Wesley Snipes has already boarded the follow-up.
Saturday Night Live favorite Leslie Jones and If Beale Street Could Talk star Kiki Layne are boarding Paramount’s sequel to Coming to America.
Jones is in negotiations while Layne is set to join Eddie Murphy in the project, titled Coming 2 America.
Craig Brewer, who is currently working with Murphy on Netflix movie Dolemite Is My Name, is helming the follow-up to the 1988 comedy that is due to start shooting later in August
The original film saw Murphy play Prince Akeem, a spoiled prince from the fictional African nation of Zamunda, who arrives in Queens, New York, and in undercover fashion gets a job at a McDonald’s knockoff while trying to find a wife.
The new story sees Akeem, now set to become king, discovering he has a son he never knew about, a street-savvy Queens native named Lavelle. Honoring his father’s dying wish to groom his son as a new crowned prince, Akeem must once again return to America.
Wesley Snipes is already on board while Arsenio Hall is returning as Akeem’s right-hand man. Also returning is James Earl Jones as Akkem’s father.
Jones’ role is being kept secret while Layne will play Akeem’s daughter, burdened with feeling like she is the son her father never had.
Murphy is producing America, slatted for an Aug. 7, 2020 release, with Kevin Misher and Kenya Barris.
Jones, who is repped by CAA, Integral and Hansen Jacobson, will next be in theaters with The Angry Birds Movie 2, out Aug. 16.
Since her breakthrough in Beale Street, Layne appeared in sci-fi thriller Captive State and is shooting a leading role opposite Charlize Theron in The Old Guard, the adaptation of a Greg Rucka comic book from Skydance and Netflix. She is repped by WME, Anonymous Content and Sloane Offer.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
