After years of quietly percolating and first being announced back in 2020, a Dirty Dancing sequel is finally, officially headed toward the movie release calendar. Jennifer Grey is set to reprise her role as Baby, and on paper, there’s a reassuring creative team in place for a legacy sequel that needs to balance nostalgia with a genuine reason to exist. Still, as exciting as the news is, it also comes with an unavoidable ache: a Patrick Swayze-sized hole that no sequel can truly fill.
Per a press release, Lionsgate has lined up producers Nina Jacobson and Brad Simpson (the duo behind The Hunger Games films), with Kim Rosenstock tapped to write the script, and Grey is also executive producing. As excited as I am to hear we’re heading back to Kellerman’s for “one more dance,” it’s impossible not to feel the Patrick Swayze-shaped absence hanging over the whole thing. Swayze died in 2009 at the age of 57 after a nearly two-year battle with pancreatic cancer, but his presence is baked into the movie’s heartbeat. If this sequel can find a way to honor his legacy while giving Grey something meaningful to play beyond a greatest-hits victory lap, it could be special.
Grey has been open about how personal the role of Baby remains decades later, and why it’s taken her so long to feel comfortable revisiting the character. Rather than framing the sequel as a quick victory lap, she described it as a long-gestating idea that required the right collaborators and perspective. She told the outlet:
The role of Baby has held a very deep and meaningful place in my heart, as it has in the hearts of so many fans over the years. I’ve long wondered where we might find Baby years later and what her life might be like, but it’s taken time to assemble the kind of people that I felt could be entrusted to build on the legacy of the original film… and I’m excited to say that it looks like the wait will soon be over!
Jacobson echoed that sentiment, calling Dirty Dancing a rare kind of film whose emotional pull hasn’t faded with time. He added:
Dirty Dancing is that rare film that is as emotional, exhilarating, and rebellious today as it was the year it was released. To be able to work with Jennifer Grey and Lionsgate on the sequel is a genuine joy for Brad and me.
Still, even with that level of care and enthusiasm behind the project, there’s one unavoidable hurdle. How do you make a legacy sequel to one of the most iconic romance films ever without its leading man? Dirty Dancing was always about Baby and Johnny, and that dynamic is impossible to replace. We’ll see how the filmmakers navigate that challenge soon enough, but no matter how strong the final film turns out to be, I already know I’ll be feeling Patrick Swayze’s absence the entire time.
Dirty Dancing remains one of the best ‘80s movies and one of the greatest love stories ever committed to screen, and you can constantly rewatch it. However, they decide to move forward, I am excited that Grey is involved and that the project seems to be in very capable, reverent hands. Until then, we can always revisit the original, which is available to rent with an Amazon Prime Video subscription.
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