Tom Cruise recently made a massive splash by bringing back one of his most iconic characters, with Top Gun: Maverick, so could it happen again? During an interview, Cruise was asked if we could see a sequel to 1983's Risky Business and, as it turns out, it was actually discussed at some point. However, that leaves an important question. What would that follow-up actually even be about?
More than a decade ago, there were rumors that there was an idea for a Risky Business sequel, and there was no official confirmation of such talks at that point. In a recent interview with Australia’s Learning with JoJo, the Edge of Tomorrow star admitted that the idea was floated by him, but he ultimately turned it down. Cruise said…
Years after they wanted to do it, and I wasn’t ready to do it. I don’t know what that story’d be actually.
It's not surprising that Tom Cruise wasn't interested in the sequel idea. With the exception of the Mission: Impossible movies, Cruise has really avoided follow-ups aside from Top Gun: Maverick and a likely already-forgotten Jack Reacher sequel. Still, Cruise has said he's changed his mind on sequels in recent years, so anything is possible.
It is somewhat hard to imagine what a story for Risky Business 2 would even be, especially given how much time has passed since the original flick. Maybe there could have been some immediate repercussions to the events of the original movie, but once the character of Joel Goodsen has moved on with his life, what’s next? This one seems to make as much sense as the apparently once very real idea of a Good Will Hunting sequel.
Well, according to the Risky Business 2 rumor, it seems that the movie would've had Cruise’s Joel and Rebeca de Mornay’s Lana crossing paths again after many years apart. Joel would be happily married at this point, but seeing the women who had such an impact on his young life would've been a big deal for him.
Maybe even a decade ago that sort of a concept could have worked if handled well. Yet since so much additional time has passed, it seems unlikely that there’s a way to continue that story in a way that would really work. In all honesty, there are probably some other one-off Tom Cruise characters who would make for more interesting sequel fodder. (I mean, The Firm is getting a legacy-sequel.)
The one thing that probably everybody can agree on, though, is that a follow-up would need a scene in which Tom Cruise's Joel dances around in his underwear again. Everybody involved in the interview seemed very clear on that point.
There is clearly an interest in making movies based on properties that audiences already know, no matter how obscure or forgotten. Risky Business is certainly well known due to the famous dancing sequence, but I’m not sure how much else about the movie most people even know. Still, it certainly is a film with its share of fans, but I’m not sure even they are clamoring for a sequel or that it would end up on the 2024 movie schedule or beyond.
