Will Ferrell on Step Brothers Sequel: You Have to Resist the Temptation

In the nine years since the Will Ferrell/John C. Reilly comedy masterpiece Step Brothers hit theaters, fans have been clamoring for a sequel. But as Ferrell tells Rolling Stone,the odds of that happening are getting increasingly slim. You have to resist the temptation, Ferrell says. Its just tough because the things everyone wants you to do sequels of are special because theres not a sequel of it. I guess well see, but as of now there are no plans. We just dont want to be doing sequels of everything.

Things were different in 2011, with Ferrell and Step Brothers writer/director Adam McKay tossing around ideas for Step Brothers 2and seeing if anything stuck. We feel like theres way more fat to be mined there, McKay told Collider in 2014. [The idea is] one of thems married and has a kid. Theyre still kind of goofballs but theyve taken three or four steps. Then we have an idea for something that happens that knocks him back to square one.

The movie was in its initial planning stage when McKay and Ferrell got a surprise green light for Anchorman 2. That film grossed $173.6 million, but got somewhat mixed reviews and was seen by some fans as not living up to the original. I think we personally feel great about what we did with Anchorman 2, Ferrell tells Rolling Stone. And I think there are actually some people who like it more than the original. But then you always get that little bit of people saying, Awww, whyd they have to do that?'

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Meanwhile, McKay has turned his attention to more serious fare like 2015s The Big Short and the upcoming Jennifer Lawrence movie Bad Blood. He shares some of Ferrells reservations about a Step Brothers sequel. Maybe wed do it in 10 years, McKay tells Rolling Stone. I said no at one point. And then I realized it was foolish of me to say that, because the older they get, the funnier the joke may get. I definitely would not say no to that now. For a second I did, just cause comedy sequels are like the hardest thing to do cause half the jokes out of the bag already.

Ferrell is less certain itll be funnier as he and Reilly age. Then do [the characters] become pathetic? he asks. Possibly funnier, I guess. But maybe more pathetic. We did have a great idea and got real close, but it just didnt happen. McKay declined to divulge the proposed plot on the record its a doozy and when pushed, he says theres just a six percent chance itll ever get made.

Theres so many projects Will and I have together, he says. We just wrote a script together that I think is as funny as anything weve ever written, so I dont know if we are dying to do another Step Brothers. But like I said, I never would say never. I just never know whats going on in eight, nine years, so it could happen.