Since the original “Bring It On” film hit theaters 20 years ago, fans have been wondering when the popular teen cheerleading movie would have a direct sequel. Well, it seems that Gabrielle Union has confirmed that we could find out what the East Compton Clovers and Rancho Carne Toros are up to as adults.
Union starred in the hit film as the fearless leader of the Clovers’ squad, Isis, who wasn’t afraid to stand up to the Toros’ leader, Kirsten Dunst’s Torrance, about the appropriation and white-washing of their cheers by the San Diego school’s squad. The added subplot of the affluent white teens stealing cheers from the equally (if not more) talented, less wealthy Black teens elevated the film from simply a fun cheerleading movie to a socially conscious teen classic.
The success of the film spurred five spinoff films between 2004 and 2017, but Hollywood has yet to revisit the original cast, a follow-up that fans have been itching for. It now seems that the wait could be coming to an end.
During an interview last week on “The Late Late Show With James Corden” with the namesake host, Union confirmed that a sequel to the film that started it all is on the table. When asked whether Union has spoken with Dunst or anyone else involved with the film about the possibility of doing a sequel, the actress replied:
“We have! We actually did like a public, you know, panel a couple of weeks ago and they asked about it and we all were like ‘We’re in. We’re absolutely in.’ So you heard it here.”
Asked if that is something she thinks will actually happen, she avowed, “No, absolutely. It’s absolutely going to happen. I think because like we all got obsessed with ‘Cheer’ on Netflix and it kind of, you know, like brought back the whole love of cheerleading, and we kinda want to see where these people would be 20 years later.”
Union revisited her time spent in the now-iconic role of Isis during an interview last month with Vogue and discussed how important it was for the film to not paint the Toros as white savior tropes who “saved” the Clovers from their less affluent lives.
“I didn’t want to be saved and I didn’t want the Clovers to be indebted. I wouldn’t have been OK with being saved by anyone else,” she stated. “That’s me in real life and that’s me in “Bring It On.” I do not find the concept of ‘Great White Hope’ or white-savior movies appealing or entertaining in the least. I don’t like them, I don’t watch them, and I certainly don’t want to be in them if I can at all help it, so that scene was necessary. The Clovers had been doing it on their own this whole time and they weren’t about to accept the Toros’ guilt money. “
