Whatever else he does, Sasha Baron Cohen will probably always be known best for his character Borat. The first movie starring Borat was a solid hit and the sequel that followed last year was seen to be as good, if not even better, by many fans and critics. Considering that sort of success, it would be standard operating procedure in Hollywood to at least consider another movie at some point down the road. However, Sasha Baron Cohen is casting serious doubt on that, saying he does not expect to play Borat on the screen again.
It sounds like, other under circumstances, we wouldn't even have seen the existing Borat sequel. Sasha Baron Cohen tells Variety that the decision to make Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, was specifically because he felt the character was needed to draw attention to the current political administration, and so he doesn't see much point in doing it again. According to Cohen...
I brought Borat out because of Trump. There was a purpose to this movie, and I don’t really see the purpose to doing it again. So yeah, he’s locked away in the cupboard.
Of course, that doesn't mean that we'll never see Borat again. In the same way that Sasha Baron Cohen brought the character out for a specific purpose here, it's always possible he could see a need to do so again, but he certainly doesn't see that need right now, so we can expect there will certainly be no movie in the short term.
And honestly, part of what makes Borat movies work is the way the character is able to seamlessly integrate with people who have no idea what Sasha Baron Cohen is doing. And the more he does it, the harder it gets. A third Borat film, especially soon, would be very difficult to pull off because he's more likely to be recognized following the media attention received by this new film. Even if you didn't watch Borat 2, you likely know what happened with Rudi Giuliani, and if you met Borat on the street, you'd recognize him. That puts a damper on Cohen's ability to use the character.
Which, of course, is not to say we won't see Sasha Baron Cohen doing something Borat-adjacent at some point. He's created several characters over the years which are ultimately used in the same way, to disarm people into showing their true selves. The methods are different, but the results are often the same. And if the Borat sequel proved anything, it's that even the second time around the comedy still works, so you can always watch the existing movies again if you need that Borat fix.
