“[Coogler] had an idea for Michael B. Jordan to play my son and he would be looking for a wife,” Murphy said. “I was like, then the movie would be about the son, it’s not our characters, we already did that. It didn’t come together.” Neither Murphy nor anyone involved with the original “Coming to America” expected to make a sequel during the production and release of the movie. “The way the story ended was kind of like, ‘And they lived happily ever after,’” Murphy said. “Then all this time passed and the movie became this cult thing. Catchphrases from the movie start working their way into the culture. Stores turning themselves into McDowell’s [where Prince Akeem worked.] I see Beyoncé and Jay-Z dressed up like the Zamunda characters for Halloween.”
The film’s enduring popularity changed Murphy’s mind about a sequel, but he was not interested in Coogler’s idea about building a “Coming to America” follow-up entirely around Murphy’s character’s son, even if the character was to be played by Michael B. Jordan. The official sequel, titled “Coming 2 America” stars Jermaine Fowler as the son, but the storyline centers around Murphy’s Akeem and Arsenio Hall’s Semmi instead. In the sequel, the two character venture to Queens to track down Akeem’s long lost son so they can groom him to be the new crown prince. Sign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here.
