Wednesday morning brings with it news that will make you either cheer or retch. Fourteen years after its release, Love Actually, the 2003 romantic comedy that is beloved and loathed in roughly equal measure—as media outlets can’t help reminding us every single Christmas season—is getting a sequel of sorts.
The twist? That follow-up won’t be another full-length movie. Instead, the film’s stars—an impressive group that includes Hugh Grant, Keira Knightley, Colin Firth, Liam Neeson, Bill Nighy, Andrew Lincoln, and Rowan Atkinson—will reunite with Love Actually writer and director Richard Curtis for a short film being released as a part of this year’s Red Nose Day, a telethon that raises money for the charity Comic Relief. The event was first held in the U.K. in 1988; it has since expanded to the U.S., where the telecast is broadcast by NBC.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the reunion short will premiere across the pond on March 24 and in the U.S. May 25.
“I would never have dreamt of writing a sequel to Love Actually, but I thought it might be fun to do 10 minutes to see what everyone is now up to,” Curtis said in a statement. “Who has aged best? — I guess that’s the big question . . . or is it so obviously Liam? We’ve been delighted and grateful that so many of the cast are around and able to take part—and it’ll certainly be a nostalgic moment getting back together and re-creating their characters 14 years later. We hope to make something that’ll be fun—very much in the spirit of the original film and of Red Nose Day—and which we hope will help bring lots of viewers and cash to the Red Nose Day shows.”
So, what exactly might those characters be up to in 2017? We can make a few assumptions, provided Curtis doesn’t decide to follow this excellent road map: David, the character played by Grant, must be enjoying retirement after serving out his term as prime minister. Daniel, Neeson’s grieving father, may be getting romantic advice from his now-grown stepson, played in the film by current rising star Thomas Brodie-Sangster (who will also appear in the reunion). Presumably, everyone is very sad about the death of Harry, played in the film by the late, great Alan Rickman. Perhaps Knightley's and Lincoln’s characters have ended up together after all, since Chiwetel Ejiofor doesn’t appear to be joining the rest of his cast mates for the reunion. (Scandalous!) Jamie’s Portuguese has, hopefully, improved. (You’ve been practicing, right, Colin Firth?)
But if Curtis and Co. really want to do right by Love Actually fans, they might need to secure a few more members of the original’s sprawling cast for the reboot—namely, Laura Linney and Emma Thompson, the two characters in the film left with the least-happy endings. Though their names don’t currently appear on the list of confirmed return players, cameos from them—showing that Sarah and Karen both found a way to make it after all—might go a long way toward soothing haters who blast the film for presenting a universe in which everyone deserves love . . . as long as they’re not women of a certain age. Then again, there’s only so much you can accomplish in 10 minutes.
