Forrest Gump sequel was centered on tragedy but was rightly scrapped altogether

March 14, 2024

Forrest Gump is considered one of the most commercial hits and a cultural touchstone that could never be replaced but the director of the film Robert Zemeckis stayed away from making a sequel.

Forest Gump which ended up beating classic movies like The Shawshank Redemption and Pulp Fiction in the Academy Award Best Picture category had a sequel written years after the original movie’s massive success.

Forrest Gump sequel had ‘no meaning’ at the wake of national tragedy

The sequel of Forest Gump became a possibility when the original novel writer of Forest Gump’s script Winston Groom wrote the second novel Gump & Co. chronicling Forest Gump’s disastrous life in the 1980s. The screenwriter of Forest Gump, Eric Roth participated in making a draft for the script of Forest Gump 2 which was completed in 2001.

While the sequel included key elements of Forest Gump’s life and maintained a similar style to the original film, the maker Robert Zemeckis felt the movie could be disrespectful after the tragedy of 9/11 occurred. Zemeckis, Roth, and Hanks met up to discuss the possibility but Roth revealed that the trio felt, “this movie has no meaning anymore, in that sense.’”

Tom Hanks also admitted to having meetings regarding the possibility of Forest Gump 2 but the actor shared that their meeting did not last longer than 40 minutes where they could come to a conclusion.

“We did take a stab at talking about another Forrest Gump that lasted all of 40 minutes,” the two-time Oscar-winning celebrity confessed to his viewers.

Forest Gump 2 had darker plot twists

One of the most striking features of Forest Gump is its nihilistic optimism where nothing goes according to Gump’s plan but he makes sure that life continues in all its fervour.

The sequel of Forest Gump follows the same pattern where Gump tries to establish a relationship with his adolescent son, Forrest Jr. who picks up the habit of drinking from his mother while senior Gump finds himself in-between moments of history like inventing the disastrous “New Coke,” meeting multiple American presidents including Reagan and Bush and more.

While the story chronicled Gump’s life in a signature manner following the original story, the makers had to make a tough decision in the wake of the national tragedy.

Later, reports claimed that Paramount Pictures took a look at the script but nothing about making the sequel has been confirmed.