Seth MacFarlane's Ted 2 Bearhugs Amanda Seyfried As Female Lead

I’m assuming no one was sitting around in 2011 pining for a comedy about a man talking to a giant teddy bear with the lung capacity for bong hits. But audiences showed up in droves for Seth MacFarlane’s Ted, and for good reason, since it was one of the funniest movies of 2012. The upcoming sequel Ted 2 will hopefully reach the same heights of hilarity, but it’ll be doing it without one of the first film’s leads. Don’t worry, Mark Wahlberg is still there as John Bennett, but Amanda Seyfried will take over as the main female in his life.

Apparently some major events will be happening in Ted’s life in between these two narratives. As you might recall, Ted starred Mila Kunis as John’s longtime girlfriend Lori, who was the understandably put-upon character who tried to get John to quit hanging out with the man-child-bear. But everything was hunky dory by the end, with John and Lori getting married. So you’d think Kunis would be a major player here. Yet Deadline reports the actress would only have a very limited role in the sequel, if she is even in it at all.

This isn’t due to any animosity or anything, as Kunis and MacFarlane still have a healthy friendship and business-ship on Family Guy, but this is just the way MacFarlane decided to go with the new script, which is still currently being written. As such, there’s no word on who or what Seyfried will be playing. Maybe a giant rubber duckie?

Kind of a strange move, considering half of Ted’s heartwarming hook centered on Kunis’ plight in maturing John, but there’s no denying that sequels to what should be standalone films often take the plot into completely different directions. I’m betting John and Ted end up going to Hawaii or Paris or something, while Kunis is left at home.

Seyfried has had her share of successes in the past, as well as complete failures, such as last year’s The Big Wedding and Lovelace. Luckily, she’ll soon be seen in MacFarlane’s over the top comedy A Million Ways to Die in the West, which is set to bash audiences over the head in May. She joined Ben Stiller and Naomi Watts for Noah Baumbach’s next comedic drama While We’re Young, and she has a line-up of projects currently in pre-production phases, including Jake Szymanski’s comedy He’s F***ing Perfect and Gabriele Muccino’s generation-spanning drama Fathers and Daughters with Russell Crowe.

You look like you could use some ice after this story. Get a giant block of it in the red band A Million Ways to Die trailer below.

Nick Venable
Assistant Managing Editor

Nick is a Cajun Country native and an Assistant Managing Editor with a focus on TV and features. His humble origin story with CinemaBlend began all the way back in the pre-streaming era, circa 2009, as a freelancing DVD reviewer and TV recapper.  Nick leapfrogged over to the small screen to cover more and more television news and interviews, eventually taking over the section for the current era and covering topics like Yellowstone, The Walking Dead and horror. Born in Louisiana and currently living in Texas — Who Dat Nation over America’s Team all day, all night — Nick spent several years in the hospitality industry, and also worked as a 911 operator. If you ever happened to hear his music or read his comics/short stories, you have his sympathy.