"Cruella" hit theaters and Disney+ in May 2021. It didn't take very long for the top Disney brass to give the sequel the greenlight; The Hollywood Reporter announced "Cruella 2" in June 2021. But all this time later, we still don't have a firm release date. We do, however, have some information worth exploring.
In March 2022, the film's Oscar-nominated makeup artists Nadia Stacey and Julia Vernon talked to Variety (via ComicBook.com). Stacey revealed, "They're working on the script at the moment." Paul Walter Hauser — who played Horace in the first film — sat down with Forbes in July 2022 and revealed, "I'm told we're doing it next year." For a long time, that was the last update offered on the sequel. But in October 2023, director Craig Gillespie reaffirmed his interest in the project, telling The Times of India, "You know, we're really hoping that 'Cruella 2' will work out. And obviously, the strike has impacted that. And so we'll have to wait and see how everything lands once this is all over. But, you know, I'd love to be doing that."
Post-strike, the only news has come from Emma Stone herself. When asked by Variety when "Cruella 2" might start shooting, she responded, "You tell me. Hopefully sooner, rather than later." When the reporter pressed her on whether she's seen a script, she said there's "a work-in-progress kind of thing going on." This implies "Cruella 2" isn't quite as far along as fans might have hoped, which pushes a potential release date further into the future. However, Stone also reaffirmed her interest in the character, calling her "a blast."
