The Notebook is now 20 years old, and as popular and successful as it is, I’m actually quite relieved it never got a sequel. The 2000s saw a wide variety of romance movies – from adaptations to original movies, sometimes mixed with drama, comedy, or even sci-fi – and one of the most notable ones is The Notebook. Based on the 1996 novel of the same name by Nicholas Sparks (author of many other romance/drama stories such as A Walk To Remember), The Notebook was directed by Nick Cassavetes and was released in 2004.

The Notebook tells the story of Allie (Rachel McAdams) and Noah (Ryan Gosling), a young couple who fall in love in the 1940s, but as they come from different backgrounds and “social statuses”, their families and other things get in their way. Their story is read from a notebook in the present day by an elderly man named Duke (James Garner) to a fellow nursing home resident. The Notebook received mixed reactions from critics but was a huge box office success, and despite its legacy, it’s a huge relief that it never got any type of continuation.

2024 Marks The Notebook’s 20th Anniversary – How Its Legacy Holds Up

The Notebook Is One Of The Most Notable Romance Movies From The 2000s

The Notebook had its world premiere at the Seattle International Film Festival on May 20, 2024, and it was released in theaters on June 25, 2024, meaning it has officially turned 20 years old. Despite its many flaws, The Notebook has become a cult classic and continues to be quite popular among fans of romance movies, which keeps solidifying its legacy in the genre. The Notebook has a good mix of romance, drama, and hints of comedy, especially thanks to Noah, with his sometimes dark sense of humor, which makes him, Allie, and their relationship quite relatable, though not exactly healthy.

While many choose to focus on the love story and romantic parts of The Notebook (and that’s absolutely fine), as years go by, the flaws and red flags in Allie and Noah’s relationship keep being pointed out by the audience. This has inevitably made many fans change their minds about The Notebook (and I most admit that I’m one of them, but I’m glad I saw the light), seeing it from a more objective perspective rather than being driven by the sweetest parts of it.

What doesn’t seem to have changed is the audience’s reaction to the most obscure and tragic part of The Notebook: the story of old Noah and Allie. Duke is later revealed to be Noah, and as Allie had dementia, he often read their own story to her in hopes she would remember him and their relationship. The Notebook has gone from being considered one of the sweetest and most romantic movies of the 2000s to being seen as one of the most tragic, questionable, and dark love stories of the decade, but that hasn’t really affected its popularity – it’s simply a shift in perspective.

The Notebook Nearly Got A TV Sequel Show

The Notebook TV Show Would Have Continued Allie & Noah’s Story

It’s not uncommon for commercially successful and popular movies to get TV adaptations or continuations, and The Notebook almost went through that. In 2015, 11 years after the movie’s release, a TV series based on The Notebook was revealed to be in development by The CW. The Notebook TV series was supposed to be a continuation of the movie, focusing on Noah and Allie’s courtship following the events of the film and in a post-WWII world, but it’s unknown how far into their story it would have gone. Nicholas Sparks was set to produce the TV show, with Todd Graff writing the script.

In 2021, The Wrap reported that The Notebook TV show was struggling to find writers and so it was put on hold, but since then, there haven’t been any updates on it. However, The Notebook got the musical treatment in 2024, opening on Broadway on March 14. Aside from the TV series, there haven’t been any sequel plans for The Notebook, and I expect (and assume) it will continue that way.

Why The Notebook Doesn’t Need a Sequel

The Notebook Wasn’t Made For More Than One Movie

Those plans for The Notebook TV sequel were a big surprise to me, not because I wanted to know more about Allie and Noah post-movie, but because a sequel, in any shape or form, seems completely unnecessary to me. The Notebook, both the novel (which I admit to having read many moons ago) and the movie, gave Allie and Noah the closure they needed when they were young and when they were old: young Allie and Noah got back together, and old Allie and Noah got one final moment together before passing away in each other’s arms.

Is it cheesy? Yes. Is it fitting? Absolutely. Through old Allie and Noah, The Notebook reveals enough about what happened to them between getting back together and the present day, showing that they got married, had kids and grandkids, and grew old together. Following them post-reconciliation and pre-nursing home would have been completely unnecessary, as none of those events would have changed what The Notebook showed and established.

Source: The Wrap.