This is no longer simply Kate Hudson answering another nostalgic interview question about whether a sequel might be fun.
Paramount has put a new How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days movie into early development, with Hudson producing alongside Stacey Sher through Shiny Penny.
Almost everything beyond that remains open. No director has been announced, the cast is not locked and the project was still searching for a screenwriter when its development became public in August.
Matthew McConaughey has not signed on
Paramount's intention is to reunite Hudson as Andie Anderson and McConaughey as Benjamin Barry.
An intention is not a casting announcement.
Asked about the project at the September 18 premiere of Brothers, McConaughey said he had actually seen Hudson that day but the two had not discussed the sequel.
More importantly, he said he had not seen the scripts yet.
When asked whether he wanted to return, McConaughey made his interest conditional: if the script and story are right, he likes the idea.
Kate Hudson is confirmed as a producer, not yet as Andie
Hudson's status needs the same distinction.
Her involvement behind the camera is established. She is producing the sequel with Sher, while Paramount hopes she will also reprise Andie.
Her return as the character has not been formally announced because the creative direction still comes first.
That is consistent with what Hudson was saying long before the sequel entered development. In 2024, she said both she and McConaughey were open to coming back, but only if they liked the script.
The studio project now exists. That requirement has not gone away.
The difficult question is what Andie and Ben can do 23 years later
The original movie was built around a premise that depended on two people barely knowing each other.
Andie was writing a magazine story by deliberately using every relationship mistake she could think of to make a man dump her within 10 days.
Ben had simultaneously wagered that he could make any woman fall in love with him within that same period.
Their competing manipulations collided until the fake relationship became genuine.
A sequel cannot simply repeat that setup with the same couple two decades later without finding an entirely new reason for the game to begin again.
Paramount wants the story before it locks the cast
That explains why development remains unusually open.
When Variety reported the sequel on August 25, the production was still looking for a screenwriter. Paramount and the producers intended to develop the creative take first and let casting decisions depend on that version.
There is consequently no official plot yet.
Ideas about Andie and Ben being married, raising children or watching a younger generation repeat their dating games remain speculation rather than announced story details.
The original made nearly $180 million
The commercial reason for revisiting the title is easy to see.
Donald Petrie's 2003 romantic comedy earned roughly $177 million worldwide against a reported $50 million production budget.
Its cultural life extended far beyond that initial theatrical run. Television, home video and streaming helped turn the movie into one of the most recognizable romantic comedies of the early 2000s.
The original ensemble also included Kathryn Hahn, Adam Goldberg, Thomas Lennon, Michael Michele, Shalom Harlow and Bebe Neuwirth.
2000s nostalgia has become a studio strategy
The sequel also arrives during a broader wave of Hollywood revivals built around popular late-1990s and 2000s movies.
Several legacy titles have returned to theaters in 2026, with projects such as Practical Magic 2 extending the trend.
How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days has one useful advantage over many late sequels: its two stars have repeatedly spoken warmly about the movie and have never completely rejected the possibility of returning.
That still does not mean they will return for any version Paramount develops.
The sequel is real, but the Hudson-McConaughey reunion still has to earn its way back
The current status is more specific than simply saying How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days 2 has been confirmed.
Paramount is developing it. Kate Hudson is producing it. Stacey Sher is producing alongside her. The goal is to bring Hudson and Matthew McConaughey back as Andie and Ben.
McConaughey has not signed and is still waiting to see the story.
Before anyone checks on the love fern, Paramount has to solve the hardest problem facing almost every nostalgia sequel: finding a reason to return that is better than simply knowing audiences remember the first movie.
