Cult horror movie Jennifer's Body is coming back, here's what it should (and shouldn't) do

The devil's in the details

It's been 17 long years since director Karyn Kusama and writer Diablo Cody came together to debut the horror-comedy Jennifer's Body. At the time of its release, the film failed to find its audience and was considered a commercial box-office flop, but over the years, it has gained cult-classic status and developed a devoted following — particularly among queer horror fans.

Now, with Jennifer's Body 2 all but confirmed thanks to a new listing on industry website Production Weekly stating that filming will begin in Vancouver in October 2026, the big questions are what comes next, and what should Kusama and Cody do to ensure the sequel's success. We have suggestions.

The original story follows Jennifer Check (Megan Fox), a high school cheerleader who becomes an undead demon and must consume the flesh of her male classmates to survive. The first mention of a sequel to Jennifer's Body came from Kusama, who confirmed that Cody was working on a "fun and crazy" script. However, until now, there had been no indication of whether it had made any progress. Both Kusama, Cody, Seyfried, and Fox are listed as returning.

The idea of returning to Jennifer and Needy after so long is exciting, though we'd be lying if we said we didn't have some concerns about where the sequel might go. Last we checked, Needy killed Jennifer and, empowered by the demonic abilities gained from her, had just finished eliminating the band that had attempted to sacrifice Jennifer to Satan at the beginning of the film. If you ask us, that's a pretty definitive ending for a story that was mostly about Jennifer getting revenge on the men who used and abused her.

However, the fact that Jennifer's Body was neatly wrapped up in a bow does give Kusama and Cody room to go wild — but only just. After years of watching franchises coming back to prey on nostalgia only to flop, there are some pretty big indicators of what the original team should and shouldn't do.

For one thing, it would be a poor idea to swap genres. Look at M3GAN vs M3GAN 2.0. While both are highly enjoyable movies, the former was a horror-comedy that propelled M3GAN to cult-icon status because of how unbelievably brutal and campy her kills were. However, the latter recast M3GAN as a superhero, shifting the film's genre from its original horror to something more akin to a buddy-cop drama. To do the same with Jennifer's Body 2 would be to disengage from the original's themes of the horror of misogyny and sexual abuse, and while there's nothing wrong with trying something new, to revamp Jennifer's Body entirely would be a huge mistake.

On the other hand, what feels like a guaranteed success for the sequel is focusing once more on the relationship between Jennifer and Needy. 2026's hottest horror movie, Obsession, proves that fans delight in dark romances, and while it's still hotly debated whether Jennifer's love for Needy was genuine or rooted in possession, their relationship is undoubtedly the heart of the original. A sequel following up on that — regardless of Jennifer's death — would be a welcome addition. After all, why let death stop an obsessive relationship like the one Jennifer and Needy had?

With the sequel so early in production, it's unlikely we'll see Jennifer's Body 2 on the silver screen in 2026 — but fingers crossed that Fox and Seyfried's hellish adventures will arrive sometime late in 2027 instead.