After nearly four decades in the entertainment industry, Eddie Murphy has established himself as nothing short of a juggernaut, having utilized his talents to achieve massive success in a multitude of disciplines. From stand-up comedy to animated film, Murphy has virtually done it all and not once has he failed to bask in the fruits of his labor. Having taken a few years off from appearing in front of the camera, Murphy made his return to film when he starred as Rudy Ray Moore in 2019’s Dolemite Is My Name, seemingly a perfect fit for the comedy legend’s return given the fact that entertainers like Moore essentially paved the way for African-American entertainers, such as Murphy, for decades to come. The role which die-hard Eddie Murphy fans have been most eagerly anticipating appears to be just over the horizon however as the first images from Coming 2 America have been released by Amazon, highlighting an exciting new cast for Murphy to revive his original role alongside over 30 years later.
In 1988, Murphy starred in the John Landis directed film Coming to America where he played a well-off African prince who has set his sights upon New York City to find a wife fit to share his throne with. Alongside Murphy appeared a star-studded cast bolstered by James Earl Jones and a young Arsenio Hall, among others, that would almost certainly take Hollywood by storm to this day. With that being said, many of the actors from the original film are set to reprise their original roles in Coming 2 America, the sequel to the 1988 original, alongside a number of new faces that are sure to breathe fresh life into the upcoming film. Amazon Studios, who is producing the film alongside the original film’s producer Paramount Pictures, has tweeted the first look at several of these castings, all of which are sure to leave fans even more excited. In tweets that can be seen below, these castings include the likes of Tracey Morgan, Teyana Taylor and Leslie Jones; other notable names, though not pictured, include Wesley Snipes and John Amos.
Though set three decades after the events of the 1988 film, the upcoming sequel will seemingly follow a very similar plot line. While the movie will begin with a return to the African country of Zamunda, which Murphy’s character Prince Akeem hails from, we will see Prince Akeem return to New York City to find his long-lost son, the heir to his throne. Alongside the many new faces previously mentioned will come another at director in Craig Brewer, a familiar face to Murphy however as the pair originally worked alongside each other in Murphy’s 2019 return Dolemite Is My Name briefly discussed earlier. While the film is currently set to premiere on Amazon Prime in early March, fans will be patiently waiting to see if this comes to fruition as the impacts of the recent spike in COVID-19 cases around the globe have been felt throughout the entertainment industry. Regardless, fans have been waiting patiently for decades now, and will likely wait as long as it takes to see Prince Akeem’s return to the silver screen.
