'Easy A' Spin-Off Movie In Development, Original Film's Writer To Write And Direct

Emma Stone became a star after her breakout appearance in Superbad back in 2007, but her first major solo lead performance was in the 2010 comedy Easy A, a then-modern riff on Nathaniel Hawthorne's literary classic The Scarlet Letter. Now, nearly a decade later, an Easy A spin-off film is officially in the works at Screen Gems.

According to Variety, Easy A writer Bert Royal has been hired to write this sequel, which will also serve as his directorial debut. The spin-off will be set at the same high school as in the first movie (Ojai North High School in Ojai, California) and will reportedly "explore many of the same themes as the original Easy A," though it "will focus on a new group of students and teachers."

In interviews around the time of Easy A's release, Royal said his original plan was to adapt three classic literary works and set them at the same school, so a few characters could appear across all three movies. The Scarlet Letter was the loose inspiration for Easy A, and Royal told the now-defunct Creative Screenwriting podcast that Cyrano de Bergerac and The Mystery of Edwin Drood were the other two works he was hoping to adapt.

Cyrano de Bergerac is about a multi-talented man who hates his huge nose – a story exploring body issues and self-confidence seems perfect for a high school movie. Edwin Drood involves, among other things, a choirmaster who is in love with his student, so it's pretty easy to see how that could also factor into a high school setting.

Variety speculates that Stone won't return in the spin-off, but I wouldn't be surprised to see her appear in a small cameo. Following the stories of a new batch of students makes sense, but maybe Royal will check back in on the marital struggles of teachers Mr. Griffith (Thomas Haden Church) and Mrs. Griffith (Lisa Kudrow) after the disastrous events of the first movie? Perhaps Malcolm McDowell will be back as Principal Gibbons as well.

There's no word yet on when this spin-off may arrive. It's so early, in fact, that Royal is still in the writing stage. But since he was able to write one of the best high school movies of the past ten years, maybe he'll have it in him to follow that up with something just as beloved.

Here's the first film's trailer: