A “Dirty Dancing” sequel starring Jennifer Gray might sound like another glossy sequel to a Hollywood classic, but producer Nina Jacobson is working to develop a sequel that honors the grit and raw feeling of the 1987 original.
“I remember when I first saw it, it seemed like very brilliant entertainment. Now it seems like a sort of independent film. They take a lot of risks and touch on a lot of topics that people don’t tackle in movies anymore,” Jacobson said during a panel at the IndieWire Future of Filmmaking 2026 Summit presented by AT&T. “If you tried to skip over an abortion subplot in a romantic movie now, I think you’d get a lot of marks for it.”
Jacobson participated in a conversation with IndieWire Editor-in-Chief Brent Lang at the event Saturday in Los Angeles. Her film production company Color Force, where she serves as producer and partner, is also behind FX’s “Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette” and Lionsgate’s upcoming “Hunger Games” prequel, “Sunrise on the Reaping.” Earlier this year, Color Force also came on board as a producer for Lionsgate’s “Dirty Dancing” sequel (but not “Dirty Dancing 2,” lest we forget “Havana Nights”), which will see Gray return as Frances “Baby” Houseman for a new ’90s romance with another young cast.
“Grey has an incredible insight into why she thinks ‘Dirty Dancing’ lasted as long as it did or what it was about her character that spoke to people so much and still does,” Jacobson said. “We were talking about this with adaptations: A movie can’t be like the book, nor can a show be like the book that you’re adapting. But it should make you feel the same way the book does, and it should feel the same way the book does. (We’re) trying to go for the feeling of that original film. … Being able to tell a young love story that could take some of those risks but also inspire those feelings seemed like an incredible opportunity to us.”
In addition to Grey’s starring role, “Dirty Dancing” is also defined by Patrick Swayze’s starring role as focused dancer Johnny Castle who teaches Baby how to have the time of his life. Swayze died in 2009 from pancreatic cancer, and Jacobson intends to honor the late star’s legacy with this sequel.
“That’s one of the things you really have to focus on: how to let people mourn it in a movie,” Jacobson said. Then she added reassurance: “And don’t worry, we won’t bring him back with the AI.” »
In addition to “Dirty Dancing,” Jacobson also shared details about the new HBO series “Crazy Rich Asians,” which will draw inspiration from Kevin Kwan’s book series to continue the story seen in the hit 2018 romantic comedy adaptation. While there has long been speculation about a second film, the producer explained why an ongoing TV series was the approach taken for the property’s return.
“We had a hard time adapting it as a feature film. It’s actually very difficult to make a sequel to a romantic comedy because you have to resolve the central emotional conflict,” she said. “And, honestly, part of that was because none of the people on the feature side who were there when we did the original were still there. … They didn’t necessarily have that appetite, whereas there was a huge appetite at HBO for the books. There’s so much in the books that you have to subtract because the books have a big cast of characters and all these crazy melodramatic twists. It’s very well suited to television. ”
“It was unimaginable if we were trying to do this right after the movie came out: the idea that we could bring together all these people who all blew up afterwards to make a TV show together,” Jacobson continued. “But now, everyone misses everyone. Television is really one of the best ways for us to do reunions because it’s very difficult to address all the things that people loved about the movie in a sequel.”
Along with the conversation with Jacobson, IndieWire’s Future of Filmmaking Summit also included a keynote from directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller, diving into the production of their sci-fi blockbuster “Project Hail Mary,” and a one-on-one with Bill Hader about what he learned making his upcoming feature “They Know.”
The IndieWire Future of Filmmaking Summit 2026 is presented by AT&T Untold Stories, an impactful multi-year collaboration between AT&T and Tribeca Festival that awards $1.2 million, mentorship and comprehensive support to the next generation of filmmakers looking to bring their films to the big screen. For more information, visit here.
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