Mystery Lead Cast Opposite Eddie Murphy In 'Coming 2 America'

Eddie Murphy is looking to stage a major comeback next year with the long-awaited sequel to 1988's “Coming To America.” Now, a new lead has been cast in the film, aptly titled “Coming 2 America,” opposite Murphy, expanding the returning original cast with new blood.

As broken by Variety, Jermaine Fowler has been cast in the film as a lead, though details on his exact role are unavailable. To date, Fowler is best known for his role on CBS’s sitcom “Superior Donuts” and for his voice work on Netflix’s “BoJack Horseman.”

Plot details for the project are being guarded, but early reports indicated that the sequel will see Murphy’s African Prince Akeem once again traveling to America to find the son he never knew, the rightful heir to the throne of Zamunda. Based on that description, a fair guess would have Fowler playing his long-lost son. Also reprising their roles from John Landis’s original film, which starred James Earl Jones and Shari Headley, is Arsenio Hall.

Craig Brewer (“Hustle & Flow”) is set to direct the film, reteaming with Murphy after their Rudy Ray Moore biopic coming soon to Netflix, “Dolemite Is My Name.” “Black-ish” writer Kenya Barris is working on the script, based on earlier drafts by Barry Blaustein and David Sheffield, the writers of the original classic.

“Coming 2 America” will be Murphy's first theatrically released studio film since the disastrously-received “A Thousand Words” in 2012, which followed a long string of other financial and critical duds for the once golden movie star. He last appeared in the independent biopic “Mr. Church” in 2016, and is currently attached to “Beverly Hills Cop 4,” a remake of “Grumpy Old Men,” and “Triplets,” a sequel to “Twins.”

Paramount Pictures will release “Coming 2 America” in 2020.