Jennifer Garner And Mark Ruffalo Have A Great Idea For A 13 Going On 30 Sequel

Jennifer Garner and Mark Ruffalo in Thriller scene in 13 Going on 30
(Image credit: Columbia Pictures)

Nearly twenty years after Jennifer Garner and Mark Ruffalo played best friends in 13 Going On 30, the co-stars are back together and playing a couple in Netflix’s The Adam Project. The time travel adventure starring Ryan Reynolds includes a cute nod to the beloved movie with the pairing, but now that the actors have reunited, they are not ready to say goodbye to one another for another two decades. 

Ahead of The Adam Project’s release this month, Mark Ruffalo and Jennifer Garner sat down next to each other and ate some Razzles with Good Morning America. During the reunion, the actors quipped about returning to Jenna and Matty. In their words:  

Ruffalo: Now would be a great time to make a sequel to 13 Going on 30.

Garner: Yeah, we were thinking maybe 50 Going On 80. Would that work?

Ruffalo: Yeah, and then in 10 years we could do 65 going on 90. We could franchise the hell out of this. 

Garner: We won’t go another 18 years [without working together] for sure. I’ll just haunt you, you have to like hire me for something. 

Ruffalo: No, it’s over. This is going to be a yearly thing. 

As discussed on the talk show, the actors have not been together on the same project for the past eighteen years. (It’s been so long, the young Jenna Rink has actually turned 30). Ryan Reynolds apparently called Jennifer Garner up about playing his mother in The Adam Project, with the fun idea of perhaps getting Mark Ruffalo to play his father in the film as well. It’s a super sweet nod to their now-classic romantic comedy, especially since both films have to do with a kind of time travel. Now that the pair have had a chance to get reacquainted, they sound on board to do another sequel. 

Mark Ruffalo did sound like he was half joking as he shared they should “franchise” 13 Going On 30 with a bunch of sequels, and what would 50 Going On 80 even be? I highly doubt Jenna and Matty are going to wish they were eighty, weighty and dying, you know what I mean? That being said, they seem like they had a blast reuniting and it would be sweet for the 2004 film to get a sequel and check in with Jenna and Matty after they tie the knot. Check out the reunion interview: 

Jennifer Garner and Mark Ruffalo cleverly loop in how they believe that Jenna and Matty might have a son after the events of 13 Going on 30 and really be the parents of Ryan Reynolds’ character in The Adam Project. The main connection is time travel and Jenna and Matty “love that kind of thing.” However, I’ve done my research here, in The Adam Project, they play very different characters named Louis and Ellie Reed. Obviously, either way their re-pairing will be incredibly nostalgic. 

The Adam Project hits Netflix on March 11. While we wait for that and a 13 Going on 30 sequel, you can watch the 2004 movie with an HBO Max subscription. It’s among the best romantic comedies to stream on the service. 

Sarah El-Mahmoud
Staff Writer

Sarah El-Mahmoud has been with CinemaBlend since 2018 after graduating from Cal State Fullerton with a degree in Journalism. In college, she was the Managing Editor of the award-winning college paper, The Daily Titan, where she specialized in writing/editing long-form features, profiles and arts & entertainment coverage, including her first run-in with movie reporting, with a phone interview with Guillermo del Toro for Best Picture winner, The Shape of Water. Now she's into covering YA television and movies, and plenty of horror. Word webslinger. All her writing should be read in Sarah Connor’s Terminator 2 voice over.