John C. Reilly Casts Doubt on Step Brothers Sequel Ever Happening

Despite mixed reviews upon its release, the 2008 comedy Step Brothers has become a staple of the genre and a fan favorite from the era. In the twelve years since, stars Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly have only become even more in demand as elements from the film like “The Catalina Wine Mixer” became worldwide memes. Despite the way that successful comedies tend to go in Hollywood, fans have remained eager to see a follow-up to the adventures of Brennan and Dale from the original film, but when asked about it in a new interview, Reilly seemingly threw water on the idea ever coming to fruition.

“I don’t know, I think like a lot of artists all three of us (Reilly, Ferrell, and director Adam McKay) kind of felt like ‘Unless we were really sure that we could do a better version or improve on what it is, let’s leave it alone,’” Reilly told Conan O’Brien in a length conversation. “Sequels are hard to pull off. I can (name), I mean….Aliens maybe. Godfather II is also excellent…Then there’s a list of failures as long as the day.”

Reilly also spoke about the love and personal stories that went into creating the original film and why that makes it even more difficult for him to imagine a follow-up ever happening.

“It’s a beloved movie, I love it,” he added. “So much of that movie has stories from my own childhood in it. Will and Adam and I all sat around together just basically trying to make each other laugh for weeks and weeks. A lot of (it), ‘Don’t touch my drumset,’ getting beat up by a gang fight worth of kids, a lot of that stuff just came right out of my life so it felt very personal and it felt very handmade in a way too the fact that Will and Adam made it.”

He continued, “Then the surprising thing was the appeal among not just younger people, like the whole family. All the moms were like ‘I just wanted to grow you up.’ That’s what Will’s mom said to me at the premiere party, she’s like ‘me and my friends just love this movie, we just want to grow you up.’ Well good luck with that, the movie ends we’re kind of exactly where we were when it started.”

Reilly can currently be seen in the Showtime series Moonbase 8.