The cast of Love Actually is getting back together for a mini sequel

The original cast of the classic Christmas romantic comedy Love Actually is getting back together for a short second film. On Wednesday, Richard Curtis, writer and director of the 2003 film, announced that a sequel of sorts will be released March 24 in Britain and May 25 in the U.S. The 10-minute-long film is being made for Comic Relief's Red Nose Day, a fundraising event in the U.K. that raises money to fight poverty.
The movie will revisit the original film's interconnected cast of characters, checking in on what they're up to 14 years later in 2017. Actor Hugh Grant, who played the British prime minister in the original film, is set to return, as is Colin Firth, Liam Neeson, Keira Knightley, Andrew Lincoln, and Rowan Atkinson. Emma Thompson is not listed among the returning actors, and Alan Rickman, who played Thompson's wandering-eyed husband, died last year. "I would never have dreamt of writing a sequel to Love Actually, but I thought it might be fun to do 10 minutes to see what everyone is now up to," Mr. Curtis said in a statement. "Who has aged best? — I guess that's the big question … or is it so obviously Liam?"
The short film will air on BBC One in Britain and on NBC in the U.S., and will hopefully hold the answers to whether the prime minister and his catering manager stayed together and whether Sam, the adorable drummer boy, ever lands the girl of his childhood dreams after chasing her through the airport.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
5 museum-grade cartoons about Trump's Smithsonian purge
Cartoons Artists take on institutional rebranding, exhibit interpretation, and more
-
Settling the West Bank: a death knell for a Palestine state?
In the Spotlight The reality on the ground is that the annexation of the West Bank is all but a done deal
-
Codeword: August 23, 2025
The Week's daily codeword puzzle
-
Florida erases rainbow crosswalk at Pulse nightclub
Speed Read The colorful crosswalk was outside the former LGBTQ nightclub where 49 people were killed in a 2016 shooting
-
Trump says Smithsonian too focused on slavery's ills
Speed Read The president would prefer the museum to highlight 'success,' 'brightness' and 'the future'
-
Trump to host Kennedy Honors for Kiss, Stallone
Speed Read Actor Sylvester Stallone and the glam-rock band Kiss were among those named as this year's inductees
-
White House seeks to bend Smithsonian to Trump's view
Speed Read The Smithsonian Institution's 21 museums are under review to ensure their content aligns with the president's interpretation of American history
-
Charlamagne Tha God irks Trump with Epstein talk
Speed Read The radio host said the Jeffrey Epstein scandal could help 'traditional conservatives' take back the Republican Party
-
CBS cancels Colbert's 'Late Show'
Speed Read 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert' is ending next year
-
Shakespeare not an absent spouse, study proposes
speed read A letter fragment suggests that the Shakespeares lived together all along, says scholar Matthew Steggle
-
New Mexico to investigate death of Gene Hackman, wife
speed read The Oscar-winning actor and his wife Betsy Arakawa were found dead in their home with no signs of foul play