Crazy Rich Asians 2 has received a disappointing update.

The sequel seemed like a guarantee after the 2018 movie, which adapted the Kevin Kwan novel and followed Rachel (Constance Wu) learning that her boyfriend Nick (Henry Golding) was part of a rich Singaporean family and fighting to impress his stern mother Eleanor (Michelle Yeoh), grossed $239 million against its $30 million budget and earned two Golden Globe nominations. As the novel was the first of a trilogy, an adaptation of the sequel China Rich Girlfriend was announced in 2018, but development has seemingly stalled.

The Hollywood Reporter recently sat down with Crazy Rich Asians director Jon M. Chu while promoting his upcoming movie Wicked. When asked for an update on the sequel, Chu said he wants a script “that’s better and has as much urgency” but “we just haven’t gotten there yet.” Since the novel’s story requires “a lot of shifting” to show up on the big screen, he is reluctant to reunite the cast until the story is fully ready. Read Chu’s full quote below

“There are a lot of questions about Crazy Rich Asians 2. I always promised the cast, I will not bring them back unless we get a script that’s better and has as much urgency as the first movie. And I think we just haven’t gotten there yet. The first movie, even though people think, “It’s like the book, so the second book should fit in,” it’s actually not. There’s a lot of shifting, architecturally, and so it’s not a straight translation. And then there are characters that you want to see in a movie that are part of the book. We’ve done some versions and it’s never quite hit. The bar is high for all of us to come back to do that, so I’m not going to put the audience through that until we’re ready to do it.”

The sequel drew controversy early on in development, which could attribute to the reason no real progress has been made. The COVID-19 pandemic and the 2023 strikes likely also caused delays. Despite the movie being a hit, with reviews earning it a Certified Fresh 91% score on Rotten Tomatoes, returning screenwriter Adele Lim was not offered the same salary as her white male co-writer Peter Chiarelli, causing her to exit the project in 2019. In 2022, Amy Wang replaced both her and Chiarelli.

While Chu’s latest update implies the sequel could still happen, it is unlikely to happen at this point, at least with the same group of people. Chu has a variety of projects, including two Wicked movies. And Michelle Yeoh has been especially busy since her Oscar win for Everything Everywhere All At Once.