Chad Michael Murray, Christina Vidal, and more stars returning for “Freaky Friday 2”
Disney also revealed Mark Harmon, Rosalind Chao, and other OG stars will return for the sequel led by Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis.
Disney isn't sucking the fun out of Freaky Friday 2, as the studio unveiled Monday that production is underway on the highly anticipated film — with stars from the original 2003 movie joining Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis for the sequel.
In addition to Lohan and Curtis reprising their roles as Anna and Tess Coleman — a mother-daughter duo who switched bodies thanks to a supernatural spell in the first film — Disney unveiled that Mark Harmon, Chad Michael Murray, Christina Vidal Mitchell, Haley Hudson, Lucille Soong, Stephen Tobolowsky, and Rosalind Chao will also return in the anticipated sequel.
Murray starred in the project as Anna's high school crush, Jake, while Harmon played Ryan, Tess' new husband and Anna's stepdad-to-be. Vidal Mitchell and Hudson will again portray Anna's bandmates, Maddie and Peg, with Chao and Soong again co-starring as the owner of a Chinese restaurant and her daughter — both of whom harbored a mystic secret regarding the spell that leads to Tess and Anna's body-swapping journey.
Everett(2) Lindsay Lohan, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Chad Michael Murray in 'Freaky Friday'
Disney's announcement also confirmed that the sequel officially began production Monday in Los Angeles, with new additions to the cast including Once Upon a Time in Hollywood's Julia Butters, Sophia Hammons (Under Wraps), Manny Jacinto (The Good Place), and Never Have I Ever star Maitreyi Ramakrishnan.
Earlier this year, Entertainment Weekly obtained audition sides for Freaky Friday 2 (including eight script pages) that included plot details involving Anna (now with a 14-year-old daughter of her own) and Tess switching bodies with two teenage girls.
Disney's announcement revealed further plot details, noting that "the film picks up years after Tess (Curtis) and Anna (Lohan) endured an identity crisis. Anna now has a daughter of her own and a soon-to-be stepdaughter. As they navigate the myriad challenges that come when two families merge, Tess and Anna discover that lightning might indeed strike twice."
Andrew Eccles/Disney Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan reunite to film 'Freaky Friday 2'
According to the audition materials obtained by EW, Anna's daughter is "in a bit of a mood these days because her longtime single mom is set to marry British restaurateur Eric Davis," with Eric also having a 14-year-old daughter who does "not see eye to eye" with Anna's kid — even as their families are about to join together via marriage.
EW can not confirm that the script sides from the audition are part of the official script, and Disney did not provide EW with comment at the time the audition was initially posted in March.
Late Night director Nisha Ganatra will helm the movie for Disney, over 20 years after the studio's 2003 iteration of Mary Rodgers' 1972 book, which was adapted into a 1976 movie starring Jodie Foster and Barbara Harris.
Director Mark Waters' Freaky Friday film became a global success at the box office for Disney, earning over $160 million before building a large audience with repeat airings on the Disney Channel.
Watch Curtis and Lohan reunite on the set of Freaky Friday 2 above. The sequel is set for nationwide theatrical release in 2025.
Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly.