During an interview with Howard Stern last week, actor and writer Seth Rogen admitted that he and James Franco’s 2008 mega-stoner comedy, Pineapple Express, was actually set to have a sequel before Sony decided to pull the plug over budget concerns. The Daily Beast claims that Apatow asked for $50 million for the film, which was a little over the $45 million that Sony would allow it. Rogen also added that, “It was something we were very open to several years ago, but Sony was not that interested in it.”

Pineapple Express, in the meantime, has become one of the decades most defining comedies, and perhaps the best work of Rogen and Franco’s creative partnership, which also includes films like The Interview and Sausage Party.

Because of the 2014 Sony hack, you can actually obtain and see the private emails sent between producer Judd Apatow and Sony executives talking about the sequel. A excerpt of one from Apatow reads: “I am so glad we are so close to getting ‘Pineapple Express’ 2 figured out. figured out. I am very excited to make this thing real. We are very inspired creatively on this one. We have hilarious ideas. It is gonna be awesome…” Clearly, the Apatow-Rogen-Franco team had high hopes for the sequel. No pun intended.