Cruella 2 release date, cast and everything you need to know
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It has become de rigueur that almost any movie is in some way a set-up for a sequel. This is all the more true when the movie is already a sequel/prequel/spin-off of a recognisable IP from a hugely profitable studio.
Yes, we're talking about Disney and specifically about Cruella, the origin story for the One Hundred and One Dalmatians villain best known for wanting to murder puppies. Whatever your thoughts on the movie itself (we gave it two stars), it seemed a foregone conclusion we'd get a sequel, much as we did for Maleficent.
And we were right! With the sequel now confirmed, how does Cruella set up a sequel? And what do we know about it so far? Well, we'll tell you.
Cruella 2 potential release date: When will Cruella 2 be released?
While the good news is that a Cruella sequel will happen, the bad news is that it won't happen any time soon.
As of March 2023, a sequel has yet to go into production, and there is no confirmed start date.
In March 2022, make-up artists Nadia Stacey and Julia Vernon told Variety (via Comicbook) the movie was a work in progress.
"They're working on the script at the moment," Stacey said. "My only hope is, I know nothing, but my hope is we're moving into the 80s... get your rollers out, lots of perms. We'd have such a new era to explore."
Meanwhile, in July last year, Forbes asked actor Paul Walter Hauser if there was any news on the sequel.
"I'm told we're doing it next year. I don't know when, but I think Tony McNamara is writing the script right now," he said. "He's probably tinkering away with that.
"We got to work around the ever-busy schedule of [director] Craig Gillespie and Emma Stone, who are worth the wait, so any time they want to do it, I'll be there."
If filming does start later this year, we'd hope to see Cruella and her fabulous fashion early in 2024.
Cruella 2 cast: Who's coming back for Cruella 2?
It's a yes from Stone. According to The Hollywood Reporter: "Getting Stone back became a top priority for the studio, which was wanting to show it was talent friendly and could compete with the likes of Netflix."
Director Craig Gillespie and scribe Tony McNamara are set to reunite with Stone, and they'll likely be joined by Joel Fry and Paul Walter Hauser as Jasper and Horace, respectively.
It is unclear whether Emma Thompson would return as the Baroness.
Whether or not the sequel goes straight into a 101 Dalmatians remake, we look set to see the return of Kirby Howell-Baptiste and Kayvan Novak as Anita and Roger, respectively.
Really though, the only character we definitely want to see back in the sequel is Horace's dog Wink.
Cruella 2 plot: What will Cruella 2 be about?
We don't know, but we can speculate based on what happened in Cruella. In case you have forgotten, were distracted while watching or didn't make it to the end, we've handily recapped the most important twists and the post-credits scene.
The abridged version is that the movie ends with the main villain, the Baroness (Emma Thompson) arrested for the murder of Estella (who didn't really die but parachuted to safety off the cliff).
The Baroness' final scene is her being bundled into a police car, shouting that she'll get her revenge on Cruella because she knows Estella and Cruella are the same person (something no one else has managed to glean). It is this scene and not the post-credits scene that will likely lead into the potential sequel.
We could see the Baroness either escape from jail or be released, hell-bent on exacting her revenge on Cruella – who has taken over her home and renamed it Hell Hall (as per the Disney original, of course). Horace and Jasper would surely have to return, given they remain Cruella's henchmen in One Hundred and One Dalmatians.
Speaking of which, Cruella has set itself up with a big problem. It never addresses Cruella De Vil's fur obsession but still makes frequent nods to the fact that One Hundred and One Dalmatians (and therefore its plot) exist.
In addition to Horace and Jasper, we meet Roger and Anita, too. Roger is the Baroness' lawyer by day (until she fires him, that is) and a pianist by night, struggling to make it as a musician. Anita is a photojournalist for a tabloid-style newspaper, and she also happens to be an old school friend of Estella/Cruella (the latter fact is from the original film).
In the post-credits scene, Cruella gifts both Roger and Anita – who have never met – Dalmatian puppies, Pongo and Perdita. This further cements the link between Cruella and Roger and Anita, but also warps her relationship to the eventual 101 puppies that will be born.
It is truly devilish to gift someone a dog and then later set out to murder that dog's puppies. So how is Cruella 2 going to get around that, without leaning full throttle into the Cruella we all know? It's a conundrum.
One option is that the escaped Baroness' plan to get her revenge on Cruella is to frame her somehow for the murder of puppies. While the first film wasn't focused on the fashion industry in any real way (besides there being incredible costumes), a sequel could explore the real-fur vs faux-fur dilemma.
The problem this presents us with, however, is that it's a massive retcon of One Hundred and One Dalmatians, in which there is no pussyfooting around the fact that Cruella's entire schtick is puppy murder for a coat.
How Disney plans to continue with a villain who will eventually want to kill puppies remains to be seen. What they do then is a mystery, but we are reminded that the cliché 'let sleeping dogs lie' exists for a reason.
Cruella is available to stream on Disney+
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