"Family Stone" Sequel in Works

The 2005 dramedy “The Family Stone,” is getting a sequel after two decades.

Thomas Bezucha, who wrote and directed the holiday classic is working on the project. 

He told CNN that he had already been thinking about revisiting the fictional kin before the death of Diane Keaton, who died in October at the age of 79. Keaton’s character, the Stone family’s matriarch Sybil, dies after a terminal illness at the end of the original movie.

“I’ve been haunted by the loss of Sybil for months now while I worked on it, and so this was a blow on a tender bruise already,” Bezucha added. “Mentally, I’ve been spending time in that house where I’ve been missing her for a while already.”

Bezucha noted that he wants to “honor [Keaton] even more” and “do a good job by the rest of the cast.”

“The Family Stone” follows an awkward culture clash when Sybil’s son brings his uptight girlfriend home to New England to celebrate the holidays with their wacky, bohemian family. 

A perennial Christmas favorite and box office hit, the movie features a star-studded cast of Sarah Jessica Parker, Dermot Mulroney, Luke Wilson, Rachel McAdams, Claire Danes and Craig T. Nelson.

It’s unclear who will be back for the follow-up film. Bezucha pointed out that nobody has officially signed on and the sequel has not been officially greenlit by Disney, which acquired the film’s original distributor 20th Century Fox in 2019. 

However, Bezucha expressed that he only wants to return with the original cast.

“I’m not interested in the Brady family reunion without the original Jan,” he said.