The Help: Jessica Chastain reveals her wishes for a potential sequel to the 2011 hit film

Last Updated on August 24, 2023

In 2011, the summer box office had concluded with a mid-budgeted historical drama starring primarily women dominating the box office for about a month from August to September. The Help was a film adaptation of an international bestseller by Kathryn Stockett from director Tate Taylor, whose credits include the James Brown biopic, Get On Up, and the horror film, Ma. The movie featured an all-star cast, including Viola Davis, Emma Stone, Bryce Dallas Howard, Octavia Spencer, and Jessica Chastain.

Deadline reveals that one of the film’s stars, Jessica Chastain, has proposed her idea for a sequel to the film. While appearing on Entertainment Weekly’s Awardist Podcast, Chastain spoke about the film and responded to the notion of a sequel, “You know who I think about all the time, and I just wish I could play her [again]? Celia Foote. I just want to do something, Celia and Minny, and see what happened. You know they ended up living together and raising the baby together, they were best friends. How amazing would that film be? I loved her, and I got to be a bit silly.”

The Help‘s box office success ended with a domestic gross of $169 million and a worldwide take of $216 million on a budget that totaled just over $20 million. The film earned Octavia Spencer an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Minny Jackson, although Chastain herself was also up for the award. Chastain adds, “A lot of my characters I feel like I got to experience a lot. Celia, it was such a deep dive for me. I really threw on that character, and I didn’t really get to mine that much material because I was a supporting part of that story. That’s a character I wish I could revisit.”

The plot for The Help reads,
An aspiring author during the civil rights movement of the 1960s decides to write a book detailing the African American maids’ point of view on the white families for which they work, and the hardships they go through on a daily basis.

Chastain’s Oscar nomination for the film was her first. She would be nominated again the following year for her role in Zero Dark Thirty, then she would secure a win for the award of Best Actress for her titular part in The Eyes of Tammy Faye.