Cruella Director Teases Sequel, Says It Would Be a “Shame” If Emma Thompson Wasn’t in It

Cruella is now available to own on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, and DVD. In honor of its release, ComicBook.com recently had the chance to chat with the movie’s director, Craig Gillespie. During the interview, Gillespie talked about why there’s no commentary and revealed what he would have shared had there been one. After Cruella was released in theaters, it didn’t take long for Disney to announce a sequel, which will see the return of Emma Stone in the titular role as well as Gillespie. ComicBook.com asked Gillespie about the upcoming sequel, what fans can expect, and whether or not it will feature the return of Emma Thompson as the Baroness. 

“There’s sort of conversations about what that will be. Where this world takes us now, and then I think they’ll be diving into it. We’re in that exploratory phase right now, but they’ve got a lot of ideas that are exciting,” Gillespie teased. “Maybe a whole other movie,” he added when we brought up Cruella‘s post-credit scene, which teased a set-up for 101 Dalmatians. 

“What I loved about the end of Cruella is… I kept calling it the graduate moment. Which, Dustin Hoffman sits at the back of the bus, and then he’s not sure if this is actually what he wanted. There’s that sort of awkward hesitation. It’s the same when she walks into Hellman’s Hall. She’s been striving and fighting for this throughout the whole film, and then she suddenly realizes the sacrifice. It’s like she’s lost Estella. She’s less that part of herself. You know? Now she has this public persona that she has to sort of live up to. That conflict I felt was really interesting, and think by the time she gets to… In my mind, by the time she gets 101 Dalmatians, she’s pretty much gone to the dark side. Right now, there’s a gray area. How she gets to that dark side will be interesting.”

“I can’t answer this question,” he replied when we asked if Thompson would be returning. “It would be a shame if she wasn’t in it, wouldn’t it?,” he added. 

We also asked Gillespie if there is any added pressure with making a sequel and what filmmaking lessons he learned from the first movie.

“Oddly, I think during the first one… I don’t want to jinx it at all, but trying to crack the code on this balance and this tone and her performance. Which, Emma did an amazing job with, and really trying to figure out what the level of the humor is. Just the balance of that character, so that she’s still really fun in Cruella, but she’s got some humanity to her. I think that was difficult. Now we get to sort of just blow it up in a way, which I think is really exciting,” he shared. “It’s funny. I thought I was making my life easier by saying we’ll do it in post, and then that ended up being a year of my life. 1,850 effect shots.” 

Cruella is now streaming on Disney+ and is available to buy on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, and DVD. Cruella 2 does not yet have a release date.