Kirsten Dunst could return for the next Jumanji film, its director has revealed in a new interview.
Dunst appeared in the original Jumanji film as child Judy Shepherd alongside Robin Williams in 1995.
Now, Jake Kasdan, the director of the last two Jumanji films, Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle (2017) and The Next Level (2019), has said that he is keen for Dunst to return to the Jumanji universe when the next film in the series is made.
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Kasdan spoke about the next third film in the series, which is slated to arrive in 2026.
Earlier this year, Dunst told The Hollywood Reporter that she’d not been approached about a cameo in the current series of films – but Kasdan told the outlet that they’ve been trying to get her.
He said: “We love Kirsten. She’s fantastic. From the time we did Welcome to the Jungle, we were very focused on keeping a little bit of connectivity to the original movie, which we love. We’ve always wanted to honour it and keep enough of it alive. Also, the way the original movie ends, as brilliant as it is, creates a lot of plot complications in trying to continue the story with those characters.
“I don’t know how well you remember it, but the world reverts back to what it was before, as though it never happened. Some of the characters are still aware of what happened, but most of them aren’t. So the kids [including Dunst’s character] don’t remember because it short-circuits the part where they have the adventure, but Robin [Williams] and Bonnie’s characters are aware.
Bonnie Hunt, Bradley Pierce, Kirsten Dunst and Robin Williams in ‘Jumanji’, 1995 – CREDIT: TriStar/Getty Images
“So it has this complicated, clever bit of storytelling at the end that has always made the challenge of continuing their story very complicated,” he continued.
“But, that said, within that complication, we’ve loved trying to figure out some way to do it in a way that is fun and passes some kind of fidelity to the original story. So, in Welcome to the Jungle, there are some references to Robin’s character, and then in The Next Level, we have a character [Judy’s aunt Nora, played by Bebe Neuwirth] that comes back in a way and obeys the previous story told, but in a slightly sideways way.”
In a four star review of the last Jumanji film, NME said: “Comically, it’s a total riot – and these constant character switches provide most of the fun. Sure, there’s some ingenious challenges that the gang must tackle – a series of moving bridges, several shiny stones to collect and an attack from a herd of giant ostriches – but these self-contained scenes never impact the plot and it often feels like we’re just treading water before the next bit of exposition.
“As with the original, this family-friendly version of Face/Off works best when you don’t think about it too much. But take it for what it is – an undemanding yet solidly entertaining mainstream blockbuster – and you’ll find it rises above the competition quite nicely. Did we mention it’s got Danny DeVito, too?”
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