Summary

• The live-action sequel to The Jungle Book, The Jungle Book 2, was hinted at in 2016 but hasn't received updates since 2018.
• Unlike the animated movie, the live-action version has a different ending, leaving room for more adventures in a sequel.
• The original cast such as Bill Murray, Ben Kingsley, and Scarlett Johansson could potentially return for The Jungle Book 2.

The live-action sequel to The Jungle Book, The Jungle Book already has differences from the book.

Unlike the animated movie, Favreau's The Jungle Book does not end with Mowgli walking into the Man-Village, finally content with being with his own kind. In the remake, Mowgli instead uses his knowledge of human equipment and tricks to help his animal friends, staying with them. This opens the door for more adventures in a sequel movie, The Jungle Book 2, the long-awaited live-action sequel. There are many Disney sequels but few have been remade into live-action movies. The Jungle Book 2 could buck that trend.

The Jungle Book 2 Is Not Confirmed

At this moment, The Jungle Book 2 is not confirmed. Back in 2016, before The Jungle Book was released, Favreau and Disney announced that The Jungle Book 2 was in the works. Disney later confirmed that The Jungle Book 2 was in pre-production only a few weeks later, with Jungle Book screenwriter Justin Marks returning. Favreau, however, changed his plans for The Jungle Book 2 because of how much focus The Lion King required (via Collider). Favreau said,

"...I'm kind of full bore into developing the tools to tell the story for Lion King, because you're sort of developing whole new sets of tools for each production. And right now in the story phase, getting the story right for Jungle Book 2. I don't know. Right now the plan is that we go right from one into the other, but I know from having worked on two superhero movies back to back, these take many many many years. I was working on Marvel movies for like four years back-to-back. It's a big chunk of your life and you have to make sure that you're excited and can bring all of your attention and concentration to bear on this, because they are really big puzzles. Every film is a puzzle you have to solve -- these highly technical ones are like 3D chess. There's like a whole other level to it that has to be understood and learned."

From the sound of it, and the lack of any more news save some quotes coming from Marks and the Mowglil actor, Neel Sethi, plans for The Jungle Book 2 look to be on hold.

The Jungle Book 2 Cast

Without a confirmation for The Jungle Book 2, it can be hard to say who will return to the cast of the film, but as the movie primarily features animated characters, it should not be too difficult to have the actors from the 2016 film return for the sequel. Bill Murray as Baloo, Ben Kingsley as Bagheera, Lupita Nyong'o as Raksha, and Scarlett Johansson as Kaa are the major characters who survived the first film and should be expected to return.

Another actor who could return is Neel Sethi as Mowgli. In 2018, Sethi expressed his intent to return for The Jungle Book 2. Sethi told Gulf News,

"We’re going to start that soon… as soon as the director is ready. He’s in the middle of another film, but when he’s done, we’re going to do that."

This was back in 2018, and Seethi was 12 in 2016, so at this point, he may have aged out of the character, unless Disney or Favreau decides to set the film years after the original.

The Jungle Book 2 Story

John Marks, the screenwriter of the first movie, had plans for what The Jungle Book 2 story could be about. Marks said,

"In the second film, the idea is to go further through the Kipling but also go into some of the Disney resources from the '67 film that maybe didn't get to see the light of day in the first film. If you look back to Bill Peet's work on the original film, some of which was thrown out by Walt Disney, Jon [Favreau] and I really dove deep into the Disney archives to see some of the ideas. We were like, 'Wait, that's a great idea. We really need that in the film.' So we've built it out like that."

While it's reassuring to hear that Favreau and Marks were working on the movie at one point, Marks' statement was in 2018, and since then, no more news about the story or production has arrived.

It's also important to note that there is an animated The Jungle Book 2 that was straight-to-video in 2003. In this film, Mowgli grows tired of the Man-Village and returns to the jungle to reunite with Baloo and fight Shere Kahn. There are several reasons that the story couldn't be told in a live-action sequel without some retconning, but there are likely story beats that Favreau and Marks could use in The Jungle Book 2.

Watch The Jungle Book On Disney+