Greta Gerwig Is Down To Make Barbie 2: “I Want To Do It”

Barbie will always be famous. The film had an impressive hold on pop culture this past year, and that essence could be felt during awards season, especially at the 2024 Oscars. Though Barbie only won one of its eight nominations, Ryan Gosling’s performance of “I’m Just Ken” was memorable enough to sweep those losses under the rug — and potentially rip Emma Stone’s dress. That pink campiness is what made the movie such a moment, and there’s a chance Greta Gerwig might revive that in a sequel.

During Vanity Fair’s Oscars after-party on March 10, Gerwig shared her thoughts on possibly making Barbie 2. “I’m not dismissing it, I want to do it,” she told Deadline. While that’s exciting, nothing has been put in motion yet. Gerwig’s already set to direct Netflix’s upcoming Narnia series, so she’s kept talks of her return to Barbieland very minimal these last few months.

Though she’s warm to the idea, she’s more worried about how she can approach the film’s plot in a second part. It’s clear the writer-director wants the sequence to flow, as she recently told Variety that she won’t force a story if nothing’s there.

“If I find the undertow, then we get it. If I don’t find an undertow, there’s no more,” she said on March 6. “[Barbie’s] something that I loved making so much. And I loved the world that we built so much and all of the actors and the idea of getting to be with that group of people again is very exciting.”

It seems America Ferrera might be on board with a sequel, too. On the Oscars red carpet, Deadline asked her about returning to Barbieland as Gloria. “I mean... we’ll see,” she frantically said.

Both Gerwig and Ferrera’s hopeful comments comes months after Margot Robbie’s less optimistic thoughts on a sequel. In November 2023, Robbie calmed the rumors of a second film, stating Barbie wasn’t “built to be a trilogy.” Then, five months earlier, she told Time that she, Gerwig, and other creatives on the team were only focused on creating one film.

“[The story] could go a million different directions from this point. But I think you fall into a bit of a trap if you try and set up a first movie whilst also planning for sequels,” she said at the time.

Though Barbie left the pink-tastic world of Barbieland behind, it’ll be interesting to see if she returns in the future.