Michelle Williams says she hopes they eventually make The Greatest Showman 2. Williams first came to prominence in her role as Jen Lindley on the classic teen soap Dawson’s Creek in the late 90s. After the show ended, she went on to star in the Best Picture nominee Brokeback Mountain, kickstarting a career in indie and arthouse films with more meaty roles and earning her the first of four Oscar nominations so far. Her other nominated roles were in the 2010 romantic drama Blue Valentine opposite Ryan Gosling, the 2012 Marilyn Monroe biopic My Week with Marilyn, and the 2016 Kenneth Lonergan tragedy Manchester by the Sea.
In 2017, she went on to star in The Greatest Showman, a musical biopic with songs by Pasek & Paul starring Hugh Jackman as circus magnate P.T. Barnum. Williams plays Charity Barnum, Barnum’s childhood sweetheart and eventual wife and mother to his children. While she supported his dreams unconditionally, their marriage was on the rocks when he decided to tour the country with gorgeous opera singer Jenny Lind (Rebecca Ferguson), prompting Williams to belt her only solo in the film, “Tightrope.” The film concluded with him realizing that the place he truly belonged was with his family. The film’s ensemble cast also included Keala Settle, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Zendaya, and High School Musical alum Zac Efron.
Recently, Williams spoke with Variety for their cover story about her career. During the conversation, she expressed how much she loved being in The Greatest Showman, considering what a change of pace it was from her more intense dramatic work. She said that “I wish they’d make a sequel” because “I would make another one of those in a heartbeat.”
The Greatest Showman 2 isn’t entirely out of the question considering that the film was a considerable sleeper success. It opened at #4 on Christmas weekend in 2017 with a paltry $8 million but ended up surviving many weeks into the New Year. Although it never hit number 1, it ended up grossing more than 4x its budget worldwide and becoming a pop culture sensation, even being nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Song. With that kind of track record, it makes perfect sense why producers would see fit to greenlight another entry in the franchise.
The reality of P.T. Barnum’s life and the ending of the film would make it slightly difficult for a sequel to The Greatest Showman to be made. However, the original film already took huge license with its source material – in real life, Barnum didn’t make his start in the circus industry until he was 60 years old, 3 years before his wife Charity passed away. It wouldn’t be completely out of bounds for a sequel to completely fictionalize the next chapter that sees the character returning to the circus for more adventures.
