Is Step Brothers 2 Happening, Or Is The Catalina Winer Mixer Canceled?
"Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy" usually tops lists of the best Will Ferrell movies, but for many, the silly, raucous classic that is "Step Brothers" is simply unbeatable. The tale of 40-year-old man-children Brennan Huff (Ferrell) and Dale Doback (John C. Reilly) struggling to get along after their parents marry and move in together solidified its two stars as the perfect pairing. Ferrell and Reilly had worked together on "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby" but it was 2008's "Step Brothers" that truly tapped into their shared talent for sheer buffoonery.
There are other movies like "Step Brothers" but none quite manage the absolute stupidity of two 40-year-old men living with their parents and acting like spoiled 14-year-old brats. With Adam McKay directing and co-writing, the film was in good hands from the outset, especially since the man behind most of the best early-2000s comedies, Judd Apatow, was onboard as producer. Meanwhile, Richard Jenkins, Mary Steenburgen, Adam Scott, and Kathryn Hahn provided a superb supporting cast that perfectly complemented Ferrell and Reilly's absurd shenanigans.
More recently we've had to make do with the uninspired parody that was "Holmes and Watson," which saw the duo reunite to anticlimactic effect a full decade after "Step Brothers." Now, in an age where good comedy movies seem to have all but disappeared from release schedules, we need the unhinged idiocy of their earlier team-up more than ever. In other words, we need that "Step Brothers" sequel ASAP. Unfortunately, it's not clear when or even if that's going to happen.
Why hasn't Step Brothers 2 happened yet?
John C. Reilly spoke to IndieWire in 2018 and revealed that he and pretty much everyone else involved with the first movie have been talking about a "Step Brothers" sequel, "pretty much since the first one came out." So why hasn't it materialized? Well, "Step Brothers 2" has faced all manner of setbacks, from being overlooked in favor of making other, seemingly more sought-after sequels, to behind-the-scenes fall-outs.
In theory, there's no reason why "Step Brothers 2" would be off the table. After all, Will Ferrell has reprised beloved roles before with films like 2013's "Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues" and 2016's "Zoolander 2." But something always seems to prevent the "Step Brothers" sequel from happening, including the aforementioned "Anchorman" sequel — more on that later.
But perhaps the biggest reason not to expect "Step Brothers 2" is the awkward situation between Ferrell and McKay. In 2019, the pair separated as producing partners, 13 years after they co-founded Gary Sanchez Productions back in 2006. Then, McKay admitted to Vanity Fair in 2021 that he fell out with Ferrell after not telling him that he'd cast John C. Relly in the role of former Los Angeles Lakers owner Jerry Buss in his show "Winning Time." It seems the "Anchorman" star and Lakers fan was hurt by McKay's actions, having been keen on playing the role of Buss himself. Since then, the pair haven't spoken, with McKay telling Vanity Fair that he's sent emails but hasn't heard back.
With McKay being so integrally involved in the original "Step Brothers," none of this bodes well for the sequel. Frankly, neither does anything the cast and crew have said...
Everything the cast and crew have said about Step Brothers 2
Back in 2012, Adam McKay spoke to IndieWire and revealed there were plans to do "Step Brothers 2" before Paramount ultimately gave the greenlight to an "Anchorman" sequel. This actually seems to have been the closest we got to seeing Dale and Brennan return, with McKay telling the outlet:
"We were literally going to go do 'Step Brothers 2' [...] I talked with [Will] Ferrell, he wanted to do 'Step Brothers 2.' [...] But everyone kept saying to us 'Anchorman 2, Anchorman 2'"
Once Paramount found themselves with a gap in their release schedule, they gave the go-ahead to "Anchorman 2," surprising McKay and everyone else involved in the process.
In 2017, Will Ferrell told the NY Daily News that he and McKay were planning a "Step Brothers" sequel but "got sidetracked," before hinting at his own reticence to make sequels in general by adding:
"The entertainment media and fans beg you, and beg you, and beg you for sequels, and then you make it and you definitely have a fraction that's like, 'Well, not as good as the first one.'"
Elsewhere, Reilly revealed his concerns about aging out of his chance to make "Step Brothers 2." Speaking with IndieWire in 2018, the "Winning Time" star said, "I understand people really getting into the idea, but in terms of having something on the table, no, there isn't." Then, in 2020, he told Conan O'Brien that the idea of a sequel had been all but abandoned, saying:
"Like a lot of artists, all three of us [himself, Ferrell, and McKay] kind of felt like, 'Well, you know, unless we were really sure that we could do a better version or improve on what it is, let's leave it alone."
What could happen in Step Brothers 2
Aside from casting further doubt on "Step Brothers 2," in his 2017 NY Daily News interview, Will Ferrell revealed a potential plot for the "Step Brothers" sequel. It seems he, Adam McKay, and John C. Reilly had a whole story idea worked out fairly soon after the first film debuted. The plan was to have the brothers follow their parents to a retirement community where they would try to convince them that they, too, deserved to retire.
As sequel ideas go, that doesn't seem like a bad way to keep the ridiculousness going while changing things up enough to make the sequel stand apart from the original. But it seems that wasn't the only idea the group had for a potential follow-up. McKay spoke to ScreenJunkies (via ScreenRant) back in 2011 and revealed a different approach to the sequel that would have seen Dale and Brennan settled down with kids. The director described the plot outline:
"One of them's married and has a kid. They're still kind of goofballs but they've taken three or four steps. Then we have an idea for something that knocks him back to square one, and of the brothers, John C. Reilly sort of instigates it, like 'we can't take this anymore.' And things go really bad, their lives kind of fall apart. They have to pull it back together is sort of the basic structure."
Whether that was part of the whole "retirement" story that Ferrell mentioned remains unclear, but that's pretty much the case with everything "Step Brothers 2"-related.
Who will the stars of Step Brothers 2 be?
It's hard to say exactly who'll be starring in a "Step Brothers" sequel, mainly because at this stage it seems highly unlikely to even happen. We are talking about Hollywood here, however, where sequels are never entirely off the table — especially if they have a good chance of making some money. But with "Step Brothers 2," it just seems that even if Will Ferrell and Adam McKay were on speaking terms, there's a general reservation about making sequels, especially, as McKay told Rolling Stone in 2017, comedy sequels. As the director put it, "comedy sequels are like the hardest thing to do 'cause half the joke's out of the bag already."
But let's say we were blessed with "Step Brothers 2," you can bet it wouldn't happen without Ferrell and John C. Reilly in the lead roles. Meanwhile, Mary Steenburgen who played Brennan's mom Nancy, is 70 now, while Richard Jenkins who played Dale's dad Robert is 74. But it seems the former is at least still up for returning in a sequel even though she thinks the chances of it happening are slim. During a 2023 appearance on The View Steenburgen said, "I wish we would do another, but I'm sure that won't happen."
Of course there's always the possibility of some sort of remake wherein new actors take on the lead roles, but let's hope Hollywood steers well clear of that idea. After all, if there's anything worse than a bad sequel it's the dreaded reboot.