Spike Lee is not a filmmaker that regularly revisits his previous films, no matter how beloved, for sequels, prequels, or spin-offs. That being said, recently, the filmmaker created a TV series based on his first feature film “She’s Gotta Have It.” And with that series going into its second season, fans are starting to rally to see more sequels, spin-offs, or series based Lee’s earlier work. But according to Lee, it’s probably not going to happen.
Speaking to Consequence of Sound,the idea of a sequel to Lee’s beloved film “Do the Right Thing” was mentioned. The 1989 Academy Award-nominated film is the story of racial tension in a Brooklyn neighborhood, and is thought of by many film fans as one of the greatest films of the last 50 years and competed for the Palme d’Or at that year’s Cannes Film Festival (famously losing to Steven Soderbergh’s “Sex, Lies, and Videotape”). Unfortunately for those wanting Lee to revisit the classic, it appears that it won’t ever happen.
Lee explained, “People all the time want me to do a sequel to ‘Do the Right Thing’—I’m not doing that. There are just things that I’m not gonna touch. But other things, you know, I feel better about revisiting. But not ‘Do the Right Thing.’ There is gonna be no prequel or sequel or remake of ‘Do the Right Thing.’ That’s not happening.”
That being said, there has been rumblings that the filmmaker wants to look at doing a musical, and it appears that he knows just the idea he would love to adapt for the stage. “I would love to do ‘School Daze’ as a Broadway musical,” he reveals. For those not familiar with “School Daze,” the film follows members of a fraternity and sorority at a historically black college clashing during homecoming weekend.
Obviously, there’s no time table for the potential Broadway musical, but it appears to be on the radar for Lee. Currently, the filmmaker is out there campaigning for his 2018 film “BlacKkKlansman,” as awards season heats up.