For years, fans of The Family Stone have begged Hollywood to stop rebooting random movies and finally give them something they actually wanted. Well, it looks like someone finally listened. After nearly two decades, the chaotic, emotional, awkwardly hilarious Stone family is officially making a comeback.
Dermot Mulroney recently confirmed that a sequel to the beloved 2005 holiday drama is happening, and honestly, this might be one of the few legacy sequels people are genuinely excited about, instead of immediately complaining over online.
While appearing on The Tangle With Kyle Ridley podcast, Mulroney spilled details about the upcoming project and revealed that most of the original cast is apparently ready to reunite. “Everyone’s up for returning. I can be on record,” he said, per TV Insider.
The Family Stone Sequel Is Finally Happening
The original film became a cult-favorite holiday movie because it somehow managed to combine family dysfunction, romance, grief, sarcasm, and secondhand embarrassment all into one chaotic Christmas gathering. Watching uptight Meredith Morton slowly unravel in front of the brutally honest Stone family became iconic early-2000s cinema behavior.
And apparently, the sequel plans are just as ambitious emotionally. Mulroney revealed the new movie may be titled The Families Stone, hinting that the story will explore how much the characters’ lives have changed over the past 20 years.
“You won’t believe how s** went down the last 20 years for the Stones,”* he teased. Honestly, considering how emotionally messy the first movie already was, that statement feels slightly terrifying.
The sequel news also comes with a bittersweet layer because of the death of Diane Keaton, who passed away in October 2025 at age 79. In the original film, Keaton played Sybil Stone, the warm but heartbreaking matriarch whose illness shaped much of the story’s emotional weight.
For many viewers, she was the heart of the entire movie. Mulroney reflected on how deeply Keaton impacted both the cast and the legacy of the film. “So impactful on all of our lives in that mother part in that life-altering movie,” he shared.
According to Mulroney, writer and director Thomas Bezucha revisited the sequel concept after Keaton’s passing and reportedly wrote the script quickly afterward.
And apparently, the cast loved what they read. “I’ve read it. It’s brilliant, and a lot of the actors have said yes,” Mulroney revealed. That returning lineup reportedly includes Rachel McAdams, Luke Wilson, and Craig T. Nelson, while the original movie also famously featured Sarah Jessica Parker, Claire Danes, and several other fan favorites.
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And yes, Sarah Jessica Parker has already spoken publicly about returning too. “I’m so excited…but it’s a rather bittersweet quandary given the loss of Diane Keaton,” she admitted earlier this year.
That bittersweet tone seems to be shaping the entire sequel. Even Bezucha admitted that revisiting the story after Keaton’s death became emotionally overwhelming at times. “I’ve been haunted by the loss of Sybil for months now while I worked on it,” he shared. “Mentally, I’ve been spending time in that house where I’ve been missing her for a while already.”
Honestly, that quote alone sounds like the sequel is preparing to emotionally destroy anyone who loved the original film. And maybe that’s exactly why fans are so invested already.
Unlike a lot of unnecessary Hollywood sequels that feel like obvious cash grabs, The Family Stone returning almost makes sense culturally. The original movie was messy, uncomfortable, funny, and deeply human in a way holiday films rarely are anymore. Families fight, relationships shift, people grow apart, and grief changes everything over time.
A sequel exploring what happened to the Stones after 20 years honestly feels like catching up with relatives you haven’t seen in ages. No official release date has been announced yet, but one thing is already obvious: people will absolutely be seated for this reunion.