It’s now officially been over a year since the announcement of a sequel to the hit gay rom-com Red, White & Royal Blue, and fans are desperate for news. One person who’s well aware of this is the first son himself, Taylor Zakhar Perez. But even as he’s determined to keep himself in the dark on the sequel, he can’t seem to help spilling what little information he knows.
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News of the sequel officially broke last May during a panel event. “Yes, there’s gonna be a sequel,” director Matthew López told the crowd at the time.
“Matthew and I are writing it together,” added Casey McQuiston, author of the book on which the movie is based. “And that’s all we can say!”
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Unfortunately, it’s been crickets ever since. And it seems like that’s by design.
During an interview with Elle, Zakhar Perez explained that as much as fans want to know about the sequel, he wants to know even less. That’s because he’s nervous about accidentally revealing spoilers. “I purposely said, ‘Please do not share with me anything until we are ready to prep it, because I want plausible deniability,’” Zakhar Perez said. “I have not read a script, but I hear it’s very good.”
It turns out Zakhar Perez has good reason to be cautious. Even when he has nothing to give, he can’t help but give answers. In a prior interview with Variety, he revealed that he did have conversations with López and McQuiston about the sequel. “I talked to Casey, I talked to Matthew, and I think [the sequel’s] just continuing to grow these two characters, because I think we just saw a nice little slice of who these guys are and what they’re able to do now,” he said.
In terms of content, his best guess is that it will be based on the bonus chapter in the Collector’s Edition of the book. Acting as an epilogue, the chapter picks up two years later with first son Alex and Prince Henry living together. Alex is pursuing his law degree, Henry is beginning the process of abdication, and the two are casually planning their wedding.
But there’s another reason why Zakhar Perez can’t trust himself around the fans: the Red, White & Royal Blue fanbase is particularly passionate.
“I travel around the world quite often…and I have never been stopped more than I was for that film,” he told Elle. “People lined up outside of a hotel in Paris to get a picture, because they loved Alex Claremont-Diaz so much. That speaks volumes about what these two characters mean to those who watch it.”
“People in their 60s and 70s tell me…they wish they had this kind of movie when they were younger,” he added. “So this isn’t a project I take for granted.”
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