This is 50: Judd Apatow developing sequel to This is 40

In a recent interview with The Wrap to promote his upcoming Netflix film, The Bubble, writer-director-producer Judd Apatow revealed that he’s developing a sequel to one of his most personal films, This is 40. The title? What else could it be but This is 50? As Apatow said in the interview, “I’ve always wanted to make ‘This Is 50’ and it is time.” Indeed, This is 40 came out ten years ago, so it would make sense for them to dig into the next chapter in the lives of Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann’s Pete and Debbie.

“I couldn’t have done it five years ago, and I can’t do it five years from now, so I’ve been outlining that and hope it’s something that we get to do. I feel like [‘This Is 40’] has really aged well, and it always feels like everyone watches it when they turn 40 and they go, ‘Oh, I understand it all now’ (laughs). So I’m enthusiastic about putting that together.”

Apatow hopes it’ll be his next film, and the plan would be to include Rudd and Mann (who’s also Apatow’s wife) and Pete and Debbie’s daughters, played by Iris and Maude Apatow. Maude’s had much success in the years since This is 40, playing Lexi on Euphoria, a little show a few of you just might be watching, while Iris is one of the leads in The Bubble. The two are Judd Apatow and Leslie Mann’s real-life daughters, and they’ve been acting for him since Knocked-Up way back in 2007.

I actually think Apatow doing a sequel to This is 40 is a great idea. Rudd and Mann are insanely likeable leads, and I like that they’ve become a pair Apatow checks in on every once in a while, with us seeing the couple in their thirties (in Knocked Up) forties and now their fifties. They’re his version of Truffaut’s Antoine Doinel or Richard Linklater’s Before series.

Do you think This is 50 sounds like a good idea?