Adam Sandler’s ‘Leo’ is Finally Getting a Sequel, According to Netflix’s Co-CEO

Summary:

• Netflix confirms a sequel to Adam Sandler’s Leo, directed by Robert Smigel, David Wachtenheim, and Robert Marianetti.
• The sequel can explore multiple tangents, including a time jump and another adventure of Leo and the protagonists.
• The release date for ‘Leo 2’ is currently unknown owing to Adam Sandler’s busy schedule.

Netflix has just confirmed a sequel to Adam Sandler’s animated comedy ‘Leo’. Directed by David Wachtenheim, Robert Smigel, and Robert Marianetti, the movie follows the titular pet lizard who suffers from an intense existential crisis and dreams of a world outside his classroom. 

Adam Sandler voices the titular lizard, while the rest of the cast features an ensemble of the cast, including Bill Burr, Cecily Strong, Jason Alexander, Rob Schneider, and Allison Strong.

During a telephone interview (via The Wrap), Ted Sarandos, Netflix’s Co-CEO, confirmed that they’ve already discussed a potential sequel for Leo. 

Sarandos also added that the ‘animation team is firing on all cylinders’, and the team is already ‘kicking around Leo 2.’

‘Leo’ impressed critics and audiences and had a solid run at the box office. Therefore, it was always likely that Netflix would juggle with the idea of a possible sequel. 

In the end, Leo reunites with his beloved students after the substitute teacher leaves him in the Everglades. Moreover, it is also revealed that Leo and his bestie, Squirtle, have been shifted to kindergarten instead of the fifth grade.

Leo’s ending leaves room for many tangents that the sequel can take. It involves a time jump that features Leo and Squirtle in the future and how they interact with the kindergarteners. The sequel can also reunite Leo with the film’s main cast for another crazy adventure.

Despite the positives, a near-future release date for Leo 2 is not on the cards. Sandler is currently having several projects in his itinerary, which could delay the start of production. Thus, it will be interesting to see where Netflix and Adam Sandler go with the Leo project in the future.

About Leo

Leo is a 2023 animated musical comedy film directed by Robert Marianetti, Robert Smigel and David Wachtenheim (in Marianetti and Wachtenheim’s feature directorial debuts), written by Smigel, Adam Sandler, and Paul Sado, and produced by Sandler and Mireille Soria.

The second animated feature from Sandler’s production company Happy Madison Productions, coming 21 years after the first, Eight Crazy Nights (2002), it stars Sandler in the titular voice role, alongside Bill Burr, Cecily Strong, Jason Alexander, Sadie Sandler, Sunny Sandler, Rob Schneider, Jo Koy, Allison Strong, Jackie Sandler, Heidi Gardner, Robert Smigel, and Nick Swardson.

The film tells the story of a tuatara longing for the wild and worried about dying who is taken home by different students per the assignment of a strict substitute teacher, but gets himself caught up in the troubles of each student, and offers great advice to each of them. Leo was released by Netflix on November 21, 2023, to generally positive reviews.