Jennifer Grey set for ‘Dirty Dancing’ sequel, filming this year
Nobody puts Jennifer Gray in a corner. The “Dirty Dancing” star is finally set to reprise her role in the long-awaited sequel to the 1987 hit, which will go into production this year.
Grey, 65, is officially confirmed to play her Golden Globe-nominated role as Frances “Baby” Houseman again in “Dirty Dancing 2,” written by Kim Rosenstock and scheduled to begin filming later in 2026, The Wrap reports.
“I’ve long wondered where we might find Baby years later and what his life might be like, but it took time to assemble the kind of people who I thought could be entrusted with building the legacy of the original film,” Grey, who will serve as one of the executive producers, told the outlet. “I’m delighted to say that it looks like the wait will soon be over!”
Adam Fogelson, president of the Lionsgate Motion Picture Group, said that with a “great team now in place,” they are moving “full steam ahead” with a “new theatrical film destined for the big screen.”
Directed by Emile Ardolino and written by Eleanor Bergstein, the original “Dirty Dancing” takes place at Kellerman’s Catskills Resort, where the goody two-shoes babe comes of age by falling in love with dreamer Johnny, Patrick Swayze’s dance instructor. It’s unclear how Johnny’s character will factor into the new iteration, following Swayze’s death from pancreatic cancer in 2009.
The latest news comes almost four years after Lionsgate’s presentation at Cinemacon in April 2022. There, the studio showed clips from the original film, with a promising voiceover: “Jennifer Gray returns to Kellerman in the next chapter.”
“Dirty Dancing” won the Academy Award for Best Original Song for “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life,” which plays during Baby and Johnny’s beloved final dance.
The film was adapted for the stage, a brief 1988 CBS series and with 2004’s “Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights,” as well as a widely released musical remake by ABC in 2017.
