'Bend It Like Beckham' sequel in the works, director Gurinder Chadha confirms: What we know so far
Yes, you did read that correctly: Bend It Like Beckham is getting a sequel.
Two decades after Parminder Nagra and Keira Knightley charmed audiences with their portrayals of teammates turned bestie footballers in West London, the film's director and cowriter, Gurinder Chadha, has confirmed that a second installment is officially in the works.
Released in 2002, Bend It Like Beckham quickly became a cultural phenomenon. With Nagra as its lead, 18-year-old Jasminder 'Jess' Bhamra, the film functioned as a sort of love letter to football-obsessed England. It offered a thoughtful depiction of a young girl's dream of making it big in a male-dominated field, while also showcasing the realities of growing up in a traditional Sikh household and coming of age in the Indo-British diaspora.
'Let's hope we can bring back that same joy and feel good about putting women and girls on the map like we did 23 years ago,' Chadha told Deadline this week.
From Chadha's confirmation to whether the original cast will be returning, here's everything we know (so far!) about the Bend It Like Beckham sequel.
When was the sequel confirmed?
Deadline broke the news on July 26 that a Bend It Like Beckham sequel is underway. Chadha was in Basel, Switzerland, at the time, for the Women's European Championship final, where the England women's soccer team won gold. The London filmmaker said her desire to bring a second Beckham film installment to fruition was influenced, in part, by the increased interest in women's soccer across the globe.
'Women's football is more competitive, more exciting, and more global than ever,' she told Deadline. 'It is an honor for me to be a small part of it.'
Chadha said she hadn't wanted to revisit the Bend It Like Beckham world until she came up with a good enough story that warranted it — which, she says she did 'just about a month ago.' Now, Chadha and her husband, Paul Mayeda Berges (with whom she cowrote the original), are working on the script. Chadha says she's also working 'collaboratively' with Emma Hayes, the new head coach of the U.S. women's national soccer team, to help bring the project to life.
'I'm excited to revisit the original characters and revive the enduring story and build on the legacy we helped to create for the women's game,' Chadha said.
Is the original cast returning?
Nagra and Knightley lit up the screen as costars back in the day, with some fans even hoping that their onscreen characters would turn out to be each other's romantic interests (they didn't, alas). Chadha told Deadline that Nagra, Knightley, Archie Panjabi, Juliet Stevenson and other members of the original cast 'are aware that a sequel is being developed,' but they'll want to see a script before they actually commit.
'Everything hinges on the script and if the original cast likes it,' she said. 'I am working really hard to make sure every character I bring back has a decent arc and scenes.'
Original Bend It Like Beckham cast members haven't spoken out about the news of the sequel yet.
Knightley, however, previously shared her support for a follow-up to the original that explores a lesbian love story between Jess and Jules.
'F*** yeah! That would've been amazing. I think they should've been too,' Knightley told Pride Source in 2018. 'I think that would've been great. We need a sequel.'
When can we see 'Bend It Like Beckham 2'?
The goal, Chadha told Deadline, is to have the sequel ready for the original film's 25th anniversary in 2027, the same year that the FIFA Women's World Cup tournament is set to kick off in Brazil.
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