Netflix is not developing a sequel to Pretty Woman despite a presumed movie poster making headlines, a source exclusively tells Us Weekly.
“This is not happening. It’s fake AI and not true,” a movie insider tells Us.
Rumors swirled earlier this month that Pretty Woman stars Julia Roberts and Richard Gere would return for a film follow-up titled A Second Chance. In an AI-illustrated poster, Roberts, 57, and Gere, 75, stood back-to-back as they stared at the camera. (Us reached out to Netflix for comment.)
Roberts and Gere played Vivian Ward and Edward Lewis, respectively, in 1990’s Pretty Woman. The movie, directed by the late Garry Marshall, followed a new escort as she was hired to be Lewis’ companion during his week in Los Angeles. The pair notably fell in love by the end of the movie.
“Let me be clear, I really like the movie,” Gere said on a December 2024 episode of the “Awards Chatter” podcast. “Initially, I didn’t understand it. There was no character. So I read this thing and I said, ‘It’s not for me. To me, it’s a suit that’s there in the movie.’”
It wasn’t until Gere met with Marshall, who died in 2016 at the age of 81, that he had a change of heart.
“We start talking about the script and I said, ‘Look, I just don’t see a character,’” Gere recalled, noting that Marshall replied that together they would “find” the actor in Edward.
Gere then met with Roberts, who had already agreed to play Vivian. During the meeting, Marshall called to get Gere’s opinion on the Steel Magnolias star.
“I said, ‘She’s adorable. She’s great.’ And while I’m talking to him, she takes a Post-It off of my desk and she writes something on it,” Gere said. “Then she moves it across the table to me and it says, ‘Please say yes.’ So how could you say no to that?”
The film was initially slated to be a gritty drama, but Marshall eventually tweaked it into a romantic comedy.
Richard Gere and Julia Roberts in ‘Pretty Woman.’ Courtesy of Buena Vista Pictures / Everett Collection
“We ended up really trying to find a character there that made sense within the structure and the essence of what that piece was,” Gere said. “To make it heartfelt, to make it charming, make it fun, make it sexy, you know? And we all loved each other. Great trust, we had a wonderful time, and we had no idea that it was gonna be what it was.”
After the success of Pretty Woman, which has since inspired a Broadway musical of the same name, Roberts and Gere teamed up again for 1999’s Runaway Bride. The pair also haven’t been opposed to reuniting a potential Pretty Woman sequel.
“It all comes down to whether or not there’s a good script,” Gere told People in May.
Roberts, for her part, even has an idea in mind for a sequel.
“I think [Edward] passed away peacefully in his sleep from a heart attack, smiling. And now she runs his business,” she said during a 2023 appearance on CBS Mornings.
