Why My Girl 3 Didn't Happen: What Happened To The Canceled Sequel
One of the most beloved movies from the early 1990s is My Girl, which spawned a sequel and could have gotten a third movie – but why didn’t My Girl 3 happen? One of the biggest movie stars of the 1990s was Macaulay Culkin, who started his career in film in 1988 and got his big break in 1990 when he played the unforgettable Kevin McCallister in Home Alone. The following year, Culkin starred in a very different movie with a heavy dose of drama that marked an entire generation: My Girl.
Directed by Howard Zieff, My Girl (which refers to the 1964 song of the same name by The Temptations) is a coming-of-age drama starring Anna Chlumsky, Macaulay Culkin, Dan Aykroyd, and Jamie Lee Curtis. Set in Madison, Pennsylvania, in the summer of 1972, My Girl follows Vada Sultenfuss (Chlumsky), an 11-year-old hypochondriac girl living with her widowed father, Harry (Aykroyd), who owns and operates a funeral parlor, which also serves as their home. Vada becomes distraught when Harry starts dating makeup artist Shelly (Curtis) and relies on her only friend, Thomas J. Sennett (Culkin), for support, but Vada’s life takes a tragic turn.
Although My Girl wasn’t well-received by critics, it was a box-office success and earned a special place in the hearts of the audience, which was more than enough for it to be granted a sequel. Simply titled My Girl 2, the movie was released in 1994 and had Chlumsky, Aykroyd, and Curtis back, but instead of staying in Pennsylvania, it followed Vada as she traveled to Los Angeles to learn more about her deceased mother. Unfortunately (though not surprising), My Girl 2 was panned by critics, and this bad reception put an end to all plans for a third movie. Here’s what’s known about the canceled My Girl 3 and why it never happened.
Naming the sequel to My Girl “My Girl 2” was an easy way out for the production team but wasn’t the best decision, as it took away the heartwarming meaning behind the original movie’s title, which is all about the unbreakable bond between Vada and Thomas. Luckily, My Girl 3 wouldn’t have been called that, and it was reportedly titled Still My Girl, but plot details have never been revealed, so it’s unknown where this third story would have taken Vada.
My Girl 3 spent years in development hell, and as it happens with franchises that begin as coming-of-age stories, time is key. In 2003, in an interview with Michael Parkinson, Aykroyd revealed that Columbia Pictures was still interested in making My Girl 3 and that there was strong interest in having Chlumsky back as Vada. In 2009, it was reported that Aykroyd and Chlumsky were still attached to the project, but as more and more time passed, it was more unlikely that My Girl 3 would happen. In 2012, Chlumsky put an end to rumors about My Girl 3 saying it wasn’t happening and she wouldn’t be interested in it, as it was unnecessary and would be “so gimmicky” to do it.
If Anna Chlumsky’s reaction in the above-linked interview wasn’t enough proof, Chlumsky recently made it clear that she doesn’t like talking about My Girl. In an interview with Elle (via DigitalSpy), while promoting Netflix’s Inventing Anna, Chlumsky was asked if she ever gets sick of being asked about Vada and My Girl, to which she replied “Yes. Unequivocally. You ever get sick of talking about that recital you did when you were 10?”, adding that she even treated this problem in therapy. Between Anna Chlumsky’s understandable desire to move on and away from Vada and My Girl, and the years that have passed since My Girl 2, it’s easy to see why My Girl 3 will never happen, and it’s better that way.