Lisa Ann Walter may be busy keeping second and third-graders in line while making audiences laugh with Abbott Elementary, but that hasn’t stopped her from reflecting on some of her other roles over the years. Despite Disney’s The Parent Trap being almost 26 years old, Walter still holds the role of Chessy near and dear to her heart. In fact, she’d love to reprise her role so much that she’s been thinking about possible ideas on how the gang would get back together. She has some good ideas, but I can’t help but think that fans deserve something a little different if Disney decides to make a sequel to the beloved '90s family movie.
Lisa Ann Walter's Ideas For The Parent Trap 2
Walter stopped to chat with TooFab while attending the Gurus Magazine’s #30Voices30Days event earlier this month. Much of the conversation revolved around ABC’s only comedy on the fall TV lineup, Abbott Elementary, she did find time to bring up a potential The Parent Trap 2. While she hopes that Nancy Myers, who directed and co-wrote the 1998 film, would return in this hypothetical scenario, that didn’t stop her from sharing her own ideas on what a sequel could look like.
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While I don’t hate the idea of rehashing the original plot and giving Meredith a redemption arc of sorts, which she totally deserves, I’m not sure it would have the same magical effect the second time around. It’s also hard to imagine Nick Parker would go searching for another wife after getting his second chance romance with Elizabeth. Trying to do so would taint the amazing love story that Natasha Richardson helped create when she stepped into the role.
Thankfully, that wasn’t Walter’s only pitch. In another one, she moved the focus off of Annie and Hallie’s parents, and instead turned it on her character Chessy and her relationship with Martin, Annie’s butler, which is teased at the end of the movie.
I don't know, I think that Chessy and Martin [Simon Kunz] are still married and maybe they're having problems in the marriage and the grown up twins try to get them back together. Could that be a thing? That's sort of the straight-to-video version.
There’s definitely a lot of potential there, especially since Walter and Kunz had fun chemistry during the filming of the first movie. However, I think the Abbott Elementary actress is right to assume that it feels more like a straight-to-video, or more likely straight-to-streaming by today's standards, plot instead of one for the big screen.
The comedian's third and final pitch involved one of Lohan’s characters having problems in her own marriage that lead to the two potentially switching places. That could be fun, but it reminds me of Netflix’s The Princess Switch. It also feels more adult in nature, with the switch seeming diabolical instead of innocent.
My Idea For The Parent Trap 2
Obviously, I’m not Nancy Myers, and I agree with Walter that she should be the one in charge of coming up with a compelling story for this hypothetical sequel. Still, as a huge fan of The Parent Trap, I can’t help but think of my own pitch. In my ideal version, the sequel would act as a passing of the torch, introducing the world to a new duo of scheming tweens while allowing Lohan to reprise her role in a more age-appropriate setting.
Perhaps Annie and Hallie have grown apart in their adulthood after some kind of disagreement. Annie has taken over her mother’s design business and lives in England, whereas Hallie has stayed close to her father and helps him run the winery. Both have their own families now, including eleven-year-old daughters who haven’t seen each other in years.
Like the original, the cousins would find themselves in the same place at the same time. Maybe it wouldn't be a summer camp this time, but something that feels more glitzy and Gen-Z, like a social media convention or music festival. Their paths cross, each realizes who the other is, and together the cousins scheme to reunite their moms who both miss each other, but refuse to be the first to reach out.
Lohan would still have a role, and so would all the actors who want to reprise their roles, like Walter. But an idea like this would allow a new generation to identify with the fun and heartwarming themes in The Parent Trap. That’s what sequels and reboots should be about.
Unfortunately, this is all just hypothetical since there is no word on whether Disney is interested in creating The Parent Trap 2. However, with them working on Freaky Friday 2, for which Lohan is in talks to reprise her role, it’s not totally unlikely that it could happen. For now, fans can relive the magic and hijinks by streaming the 1998 film with an active Disney+ subscription.
