‘Jump Street’ directors finally reveal the real reason for skipping ’23 Jump Street’: ‘Out of respect for…’

’24 Jump Street’ is officially in development. Fans of the R-rated crime comedy franchise were elated; however, they were a bit confused by the title. The last installment in the franchise was ’22 Jump Street,’ which came out in 2014. Hence, the next title should have been ’23 Jump Street,’ but the upcoming film seemed to have jumped one number. Phil Lord and Chris Miller, who were in the director’s chair for the previous two movies of the franchise, sat down for an interview with Empire Magazine and revealed the reasoning behind the jump. The duo shared that they are jumping ahead to respect the unrealized ’23 Jump Street’ project.

For those unaware, a script for ’23 Jump Street’ was in development at Sony for a long time. This script was intended to be a crossover between ‘Jump Street’ and the ‘Men in Black’ franchise. The pitch was made public after the notorious 2014 Sony Pictures hack, Variety reported. Rodney Rothman, who penned ’22 Jump Street,’ was involved, and at one point, James Bobin got attached as the director. However, it ultimately never got off the ground because of what Tatum later described as bureaucracy and ‘above-the-line stuff.’ Channing Tatum, who was part of both ’21 Jump Street’ and ’22 Jump Street,’ was disappointed at the turn of events, “There is a project that was written, and it’s still the best script that I’ve ever read for a third movie,” he shared. Jonah Hill, Tatum’s co-star, was apparently also very interested in bringing the script to life.

Lord and Miller appear to be equally attached to the unrealized project. “We developed a ’23 Jump Street,’ and I think this (present title) is just out of respect for that,” shared Lord. “We’re calling this 24, out of respect for the dead.” Lord and Miller do not return as directors for the highly anticipated threequel, but will remain on board as executive producers. This time, the directorial duties will be taken over by Rodney Rothman, known for his work in ‘Into the Spider-Verse.’ Currently, Rothman is revising an older draft of the movie’s script. “There was a script that was made years ago. And the dust has been blown off of it, and it’s being rewritten right now,” added Miller.

The upcoming film is expected to tell an original story rather than revive the abandoned ‘MIB’ crossover. ’22 Jump Street’ in its end credits showed  Schmidt (Hill) and Jenko (Tatum) going undercover in a medical school for their mission in ’23 Jump Street.’ Time will tell whether this mission gets incorporated into ‘ 24 Jump Street.’ Among the confirmed details so far is that  Jonah Hill, Channing Tatum, and Ice Cube are in negotiations to reprise their roles from the last two movies, according to Variety. Alongside Lord and Miller, Neal H. Moritz. Tatum, Reid Carolin, Hill, and Matt Dines will serve as producers. Hill is also involved in developing the script with Rothman and Meghan Malloy.