Bend It Like Beckham 2 | Director plans to tempt original cast back

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Director Gurinder Chadha has said she’s “pretty certain” that the original cast will return for the footballing sequel Bend It Like Beckham 2.

British filmmaker Gurinder Chadha has been teasing a sequel to her 2002 sports classic Bend It Like Beckham for some time now, but the project has evidently gathered steam in recent months. Chadha has told several outlets that a sequel is in the works, and while it’s evidently in the early stages, she’s optimistic that she’ll be able to bring back the original cast – most prominently its leads, Parminder Nagra and Keira Knightley.

“I’m excited to revisit the original characters and revive the enduring story and build on the legacy we helped to create for the women’s game,” Chadha said in a quote shared by Deadline.

By the sounds of things, it’s still in the writing stages, since Chadha indicates that, while the original cast is aware of the sequel’s existence, “they obviously want to see a script before they commit.”

All the same, the director has sounded a note of confidence that the original cast will return for Bend It Like Beckham 2. “I’m pretty sure that everyone’s going to come back,” she said.

The timing makes sense, because there’s been a deserved growth in the coverage of women’s football in recent years – the England women’s team also beat Spain in a close-run match on Sunday night (the 27th July) in the European Championships. The success of women’s football has, it seems, helped inspire Chadha over two decades after she made the original Bend It, which follows a teenager’s dream to become a professional footballer.

“I didn’t want to do anything because I didn’t have a story,” Chadha said, adding that she came up with an idea for the plot “about a month ago.”

“Women’s football is more competitive, more exciting and more global than ever,” she continued. “It is an honour for me to be a small part of it.

Chadha hopes to co-write the script with Paul Mayeda Berges, who was one of the co-writers of the original, with the aim being to have Bend It Like Beckham 2 in cinemas for 2027 – just in time for the first film’s 25th anniversary.

The writer-director is currently putting the finishing touches on Christmas Karma, said to be her own personal take on Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. Starring Eva Longoria, Hugh Bonneville, Kunal Nayyar and Danny Dyer, it’s set for release in the UK on the 14th November.

We’ll bring you more on Bend If Like Beckham 2 as we hear it.