Will there be a Cocaine Bear 2? Screenwriter Jimmy Warden talks sequels and prequels

❘ Updated: 2023-02-24T03:00:00

Universal Pictures

Keri Russell as Sari in Cocaine Bear, directed by Elizabeth Banks.

Cocaine Bear is a wild comedy about a drugged-up bear going on a violent and hilarious killing spree – but will there be a Cocaine Bear 2? We asked the film’s writer…

Cocaine Bear is an offbeat comedy-horror that’s based on a true story, but then takes that tale in a wild and wholly original direction. With the official synopsis as follows…

Inspired by the 1985 true story of a drug runner’s plane crash, missing cocaine, and the black bear that ate it, this wild dark comedy finds an oddball group of cops, criminals, tourists and teens converging in a Georgia forest where a 500-pound apex predator has ingested a staggering amount of cocaine and gone on a coke-fueled rampage for more blow… and blood.

The film hit screens today, but is there the potential for future Cocaine Bear movies? We asked the film’s writer, so BEWARE OF SPOILERS AHEAD…

Will there be a Cocaine Bear 2?

Jimmy Warden wrote the script for Cocaine Bear, having found the story while scrolling though Twitter. And he thinks there’s potential for more movies in the cocaine universe.

“Definitely,” Warden responded when asked about Cocaine Bear 2. “For sure. I think the trick with it is to keep it grounded and not quite jumpy the shark just yet with the movie. Like how do you continue the story and make it semi-believable like I think this movie is? And that’s all a tone thing for me.”

Though while he says a sequel shouldn’t jump the shark, we did then discuss sequels called Cocaine Shark and Dinosaur Shark.

Will there be a Cocaine Bear prequel?

The story of Cocaine Bear starts with Andrew Carter Thornton dropping drugs out of a plane, who the film’s production notes describe as: “Army paratrooper-turned-racehorse trainer-turned-narcotics cop-turned-DEA agent-turned-lawyer-turned-cocaine smuggler (oh, and alleged CIA operative, too).” So we asked Warden if he’d ever consider doing a prequel about such a unique character.

“I think that to me was way more interesting as a documentary,” came the response. “He’s a fascinating, fascinating character. But he doesn’t exactly fit into the story of the Cocaine Bear. Cocaine Bear ingesting the cocaine was also the end of the Andrew Carter Thornton story. Because he dies 200 miles away – I think he’s strangled in his parachute or something like that.

“I think the true crime version of that is maybe something for someone else to tell. But I’m not sure it really fits in the Cocaine Bear universe of our R-rated action adventure hyper-gore.”

Cocaine Bear is in cinemas now, and more of our coverage can be read below…