It’s been 12 years since 22 Jump Street, the sequel to the surprise hit 21 Jump Street. Although the second installment was a hit, a third movie in the franchise never came to be. But according to Variety, the long-awaited third film is officially in the works, with stars Jonah Hill, Channing Tatum, and Ice Cube in talks to return. Rodney Rothman (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse) will direct, from a script he wrote with Hill and Meghan Malloy. 21 Jump Street directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller return, but only as producers this time. We suppose it’s been so long, they skipped 23 Jump Street and went straight to 24, just to make a joke about how long it’s been.
The original film, a comedic reboot/spoof of the ’80s teen action drama TV series, saw Hill and Tatum playing Schmidt and Jenko, a couple of slacker cops who go undercover at a local high school to take down a drug ring. The sequel takes the same premise, only this time, in a college setting. We’re not sure where the duo can go undercover now. Unless they do the reverse, and Schmidt and Jenko go undercover in a nursing home pretending to be much older. The post-credits of 22 Jump Street joked about a sequel taking them to culinary school, a medical school, etc.
There were actual plans for a 23 Jump Street at one point. This was actually meant to crossover with Sony’s Men in Black franchise. However, after Men in Black International flopped, those plans fizzled out. Which was probably for the best. There’s no actual production start date for 24 Jump Street yet, much less an actual release date. Hopefully, after a wait of a dozen years, this third installment does not disappoint fans. Here’s hoping Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum can deliver comedy gold once again.