Half Baked 2 Sees Return of Original Movie's Mary Jane Actor

From ScreenRant : "Half Baked 2 Sees Return of Original Movie's Mary Jane Actor"

Half Baked 2, the upcoming sequel to the 1998 stoner comedy, will feature Rachel True reprising her original role as Mary Jane Potman.

The upcoming stoner comedy sequel Half Baked 2 will feature Rachel True reprising her original role. True played Mary Jane Potman in the 1998 film Half Baked, which starred Dave Chappelle, Jim Breuer, Harland Williams, and Guillermo Díaz, as a group of friends who love smoking weed. She is the love interest for Chappelle's character Thurgood, which presents a problem considering the fact that - despite her suggestive name - she is vehemently anti-drug.

Per Deadline, Half Baked 2 has just wrapped production in Baton Rouge. The film, which will be released non-theatrically in 2023, has announced that True (who is perhaps known for her role in the 1996 teen film The Craft) officially reprised the role of Mary Jane. So far, she is the only returning cast member who has been confirmed to appear in a major role, though Williams is also set to make a special appearance.

Everything We Know About Half Baked 2

Although Williams and True are the only official onscreen connection to the original Half Baked, the film will pay homage in its storyline as well. The plot will follow JR (Dexter Darden of Peacock's Saved by the Bell reboot series), the son of Thurgood Jenkins. After his friend Bruce (Joel Courtney of the Kissing Booth trilogy) dies from smoking an extremely powerful joint, he teams up with his friends Miles (Moses Storm of Unfriended) and Cori (Ramona Young of Netflix's Never Have I Ever) to gather enough money to bury him.

The film was helmed by Naked and A Haunted House director Michael Tiddes, who has collaborated with star Marlon Wayans no fewer than five times, originally starting as an assistant on such films as White Chicks and Little Man. Screenwriter Justin Hires has a similar pedigree, with experience as an actor in projects like 21 Jump Street, Key and Peele, and the Rush Hour TV adaptation. The cast also includes Ash Santos of American Horror Story and David Koechner of The Office and Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, with additional special appearances by comedian Jeff Ross and Malcolm in the Middle star Frankie Muniz.

Why Isn't Half Baked 2 Getting a Theatrical Release?

Many-years-later sequels are quite common in modern filmmaking, including such disparate entries as Top Gun: Maverick, Scream 2022, and next year's House Party reboot. However, in spite of this, there are still currently no plans for Half Baked 2 to screen in theaters. Most likely the reason for this is the fact that the original film was a cult hit that earned most of its notoriety on home video. The film made a respectable $17.5 million in the theaters, but it barely doubled its $8 million budget, only grossing at No. 6 on its opening weekend behind titles like the megahit Titanic and Good Will Hunting. Likely, producers want to see if the sequel can replicate the original film's model as quickly and directly as possible, rather than take a risk on a costly theatrical showing.