Lord and Miller's Near-Perfect 21 Jump Street Revival is Officially Returning
Lord, Miller, Tatum, and Hill expected to return
It's been 12 years since the release of 22 Jump Street, the sequel to Phil Lord and Christopher Miller's R-rated action-comedy reimagining of the late-'80s TV drama 21 Jump Street. But Lord and Miller, alongside stars Channing Tatum, Jonah Hill, and Ice Cube, appear to be ready to finally make good on 22 Jump Street's hilarious post-credits sequence.
According to Variety, 24 Jump Street is now in the works, with Rodney Rothman (co-writer and co-director of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse) set to direct the film. Rothman wrote the third film's script with Hill and Meghan Malloy. Lord and Miller, who directed 21 Jump Street and 22 Jump Street, are set to produce.
On Wednesday, producer Neil H. Moritz posted a picture of the script for 24 Jump Street on Instagram, with a tagline that explains the absence of a 23 Jump Street: "It took so long we had to skip one."
The Jump Street franchise has been cheeky about its numbering scheme across the two released films. The original title is both the name of an undercover program and the street address of the group's headquarters, 21 Jump Street. The second film explains that the program has relocated across the street after the events of the first movie, resulting in a name change. At the end of 22 Jump Street, the filmmakers tease a long list of sequels, 23 in total, plus video game and animated spinoffs.
24 Jump Street is finally paying off a post-credits gag
Based on the end-credits gag for 22 Jump Street, we might have an idea of where the third film is going: Russia. The list of still-to-be-released Jump Street films is, supposedly:
- 23 Jump Street: Medical School
- 24 Jump Street: Foreign Exchange Students
- 25 Jump Street: A Semester at Sea
- 26 Jump Street: Art School
- 27 Jump Street: Culinary School
- 28 Jump Street: Veterinary School
- 29 Jump Street: Sunday School
- 30 Jump Street: Flight Academy
- 31 Jump Street: Ninja Academy
- 32 Jump Street: Fireman School
- Jump Street Generations
- 34 Jump Street: Return of the Ghost
- 35 Jump Street: Traffic School
- 36 Jump Street: Military School
- 37 Jump Street: Scuba Class
- 38 Jump Street: Dance Academy
- 39 Jump Street: The Electronic Shooting Game*
- 40 Jump Street: Retirement Home
- 41 Jump Street: Magic School
- 42 Jump Street: Beauty School
- 43 Jump Street: Mariachi School
- 2121 Jump Street
- Infinity Jump Street
(*It's unclear if there actually is a 39 Jump Street movie; the film only shows the penis-shooting kids' game based on the theoretical film.)
In the original 2012 21 Jump Street film, Tatum and Hill play underachieving police officers Greg Jenko and Morton Schmidt, who are sent undercover to bust a high school drug ring. The pair immerse themselves in high school life, with the once-popular Jenko becoming a social pariah, while his partner Schmidt is welcomed into the cool crowd. The latter forms an inappropriate crush on a high school girl played by Brie Larson, distracting him from busting drug dealer Eric (Dave Franco). Ice Cube plays their overbearing captain, Dickson, who runs the 21 Jump Street program. 2014's 22 Jump Street sends Jenko and Schmidt back undercover, this time to college.
It's doubtful that Tatum and Hill's characters will return to high school or college life. Both actors are now in their 40s, so unless they're pretending to be teachers, taking 24 Jump Street back to school would make things even weirder. But, hey, that's pretty on brand for this franchise.