Eddie Murphy's Prince Akeem head to Queens in search of someone to fall in love with and marry, the sequel primarily takes place in the fictional African country of Zamunda. Most of the main cast returned to reprise their roles for Coming 2 America. However, Patrice’s absence is perhaps the most noticeable and it's a prominent oversight in a film full of callbacks to the original movie.
Played by Allison Dean, Patrice is introduced as Lisa’s younger sister in Coming to America. She was confident and somewhat more interested in wealth than Lisa — she falls for Semmi, who lied about being the prince of Zamunda, and later comforts Lisa’s ex Darryl Jenks, who comes from a rich family. However, Patrice is nowhere to be found in Coming 2 America. Besides an old picture of her and Lisa, Patrice isn’t mentioned at any point throughout the film. Where she is and what she’s been doing with her life in the three decades since she was last seen in Coming to America remains a mystery. Did she marry Darryl? What does she do for a living? Does she visit Zamunda often to see her sister and father? Inquiring minds would have liked to have known this information.
Of course, Patrice isn’t the only character from the original film who is missing in the sequel. Eriq La Salle (who played Darryl) is also not in Coming 2 America, neither is Samuel L. Jackson’s character, who held up McDowell’s restaurant in the first film, nor Frankie Faison's landlord from the original. Queen Aoleon is also not in the sequel, though this is because Madge Sinclair sadly ed away seven years following the release of Coming to America. However, she is still mentioned and honored in Coming 2 America. In the case of Darryl, La Salle couldn’t reprise his role due to scheduling conflicts and it was always doubtful Jackson would return considering his very minor (if memorable) role in the original film.
While the other characters’ absences can easily be explained, Patrice’s absence becomes all the more strange because there doesn’t seem to be an obvious reason for why she’s missing. She isn’t even given a brief mention, which is striking considering she is Lisa’s sister and a big part of the first film. One can speculate about the reasons the actress didn’t return to reprise her role. Dean hasn’t been acting all that much in recent years, with her last major role being in TV’s Girlfriends in 2007. She returned to acting in 2019, however, starring in a short film and TV movie Zodiac.
There has been no information regarding why Dean wasn’t featured in Coming 2 America, so it remains a big question mark for now. All that said, Dean’s absence doesn’t explain why Patrice isn’t referenced at all in the sequel. A line or two of dialogue from Lisa or McDowells' restaurant magnate Cleo would have gone a long way to clear up the issue, especially since there was plenty of time to do so. Additionally, as Akeem’s sister-in-law and the aunt to Meeka and her siblings, one would think she’d warrant a mention at the very least. Ultimately, the erasure of Patrice is perhaps one of the film’s biggest mistakes.
