Crazy Rich Asians Spin-Off Movie Announced, Actual Sequel Still In The Works

Crowd-pleasing rom-com "Crazy Rich Asians" ends, like so many movies these days, with a mid-credits scene. The brief sequence shows Gemma Chan's Astrid, who just ended an unhappy marriage, sharing a meaningful glance with her ex-fiance Charlie (Harry Shum Jr.) at a party. Now, it seems that hinted-at romance is getting its own full-length movie, with Deadline reporting that a spin-off about Astrid and Charlie is in the works.

The spin-off news comes ahead of the second installment in the planned "Crazy Rich Asians" series. There are a total of three books in the literary series by Kevin Kwan, and both the spin-off and sequel will reportedly be tied to the second book, "China Rich Girlfriend." Warner Bros has optioned the third of Kwan's books as well, meaning this could well end up a four-movie franchise including the spin-off.

Rachel And Nick Still Get Their Story, Too

The story about Charlie and Astrid, which is as yet untitled, will be written by Jason Kim, who has written for shows like "Barry" and "Girls." John M. Chu will produce the film alongside Nina Jacobson, Brad Simpson, and John Penotti. The project is still in the early stages with no director attached, but it's worth noting that Chu directed the first film in the series.

Kwan's second book in the series is set two years after the events of the first and follows both Astrid and Charlie and the first film's main protagonists, Rachel (Constance Wu in the film) and Nick (Henry Golding). The spin-off will reportedly be based on an original pitch from Kim, which makes sense since the second book sees Astrid still married to her husband, whereas her onscreen counterpart left him at the end of the first film. Meanwhile, "China Rich Girlfriend" sees Rachel and Nick further develop their relationship and seek out Rachel's long-lost family in the process.

It's unclear at this point how much the big-screen adaptation will resemble the book, as the "Crazy Rich Girlfriend" sequel was reportedly stuck in the script development stages for quite a while. In 2020, Golding told Digital Spy:

"It's a very complicated process because, visually, sometimes a novel doesn't make as much sense as it would on the screen in a direct adaptation. So you have to really change it up to make it interesting."

The year before that, the project also lost one of its writers, when the first film's co-screenwriter Adele Lim bowed out, citing a major pay disparity between herself and co-writer Peter Chiarelli. Lim went on to help pen "Raya and the Last Dragon." Currently, Deadline reports that Amy Wang is writing the sequel.

The sequel and spin-off to "Crazy Rich Asians" have no announced release dates as of publication time.