Dr. Suess’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas has become one of the most iconic stories of the holiday season and it among the Best Christmas movies of all time. It’s been adapted for TV and film, in both live-action and animation. Most recently in an Illumination animated film, starring Benedict Cumberbatch as the Grinch. It’s only a matter of time before we see The Grinch on the big screen again, but recent rumors that Jim Carrey was set to return in a sequel to The Grinch have turned out to be inaccurate, as a rep for Carrey has completely shot the reports down.
A report claiming that Carrey had signed on to a Grinch sequel began making the rounds in the last day or so, and it went viral on social media. Ultimately, a representative for Carrey had to speak on the report, and they told People, in no uncertain terms…
There is no truth to Jim reprising his role as the Grinch in a sequel to The Grinch.
Sometimes when rumors like this get started you get a denial that isn’t entirely conclusive because there might be some truth to it. But that’s not the case here. Carrey’s rep says there’s no truth to it, so if you were one of those people excited by the report, sorry.
If we want to give the original report the benefit of the doubt, it’s possible, since it was originally written several months ago, that at the time there were talks with Carrey about reprising the role. Otherwise we have to assume the story was just entirely made up.
Today a sequel to The Grinch seems as unlikely as it ever could be. The fact that it’s been more than two decades since the first one isn’t a major stumbling block, sequels hitting years after the last entry of a franchise have become commonplace. And it’s not shocking why there might be interest in reviving Grinch as the first movie was a solid box office hit in 2000, even if it wasn’t exactly a critical darling.
However, following his appearance in Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Jim Carrey has said that he is retiring from acting, or at least taking a significant break. So getting to work on a new Grinch movie now seems highly unlikely. It’s also highly unlikely that a Grinch sequel is the sort of thing that would lure Carrey out of retirement, as he has spoken publicly more than once about how much he hated the makeup on the movie, and that he literally worked with somebody who taught CIA agents how to endure torture in order to get through it.
And Carrey wasn't the only one who had a hard time with the film as Taylor Momsen, who played Cindy Lou Who, recently talked about how alienating The Grinch was for her. But who knows, maybe if the outcry of disappointment that a Grinch sequel isn’t happening is loud enough, perhaps it will actually spark interest in such a thing. Until then, we’ll just have to make do with one of the other versions of The Grinch to watch this holiday.
