Leslie Jones is about to make her debut in the sequel of 1988 movie Coming To America, starring Eddie Murphy.
Set to premiere on Prime Video tomorrow (March 5), Coming 2 America will see Murphy reprise his role of Prince Akeem.
In the second chapter directed by Craig Brewer, Akeem is poised to become King of the fictional reign of Zamunda. As the throne must be passed to a male heir, the prince goes looking for his son, Lavelle (Jermaine Fowler), living in Queens, NYC.
Leslie Jones Plays Akeem's Baby Mama In ‘Coming 2 America’
Jones plays Akeem’s baby mama Mary Junson.
“The prince has a son by a real chick,” Jones said on The Tonight Show.
"Shari [Headley, who plays Lisa in the original movie] wasn’t the only one he hit in Queens, you know?”
Murphy, Headley, Arsenio Hall, John Amos, Paul Bates, and James Earl Jones returned for the sequel. Alongside Jones, Wesley Snipes and Rick Ross also joined the original cast in new roles.
Jones also discussed being on set with Murphy.
“It was funny because every time he would walk on set it’s just very surreal,” Jones said.
“He’s just walking through and you’re like ‘Yeah, yeah, I love you,’” she added.
Eddie Murphy Said He Thought ‘Coming To America’ Was Over
In an interview with Jimmy Fallon, Murphy himself explained why he didn’t think a sequel to the 1988 movie was going to be an option.
“We never though about doing a sequel to the movie,” Murphy said.
“We thought it was over ‘cause the story ended with [Akeem] going off, it looked like [Akeem and Lisa] were going to live happily ever after and that was the end of the story,” he continued.
Following its release in 1988, the movie has acquired a cult status, explained Murphy.
“Of all the movie that I’ve done, Coming To America is the one that worked its way into the culture in all these different ways, little catchphrases from the movie,” he continued.
The Dolemite Is My Name actor also said that "it took 25 years for [the movie] to become [a cult].”
After observing the reactions from fans, Murphy started toying with the idea of a sequel.
"And I got an idea and it all came together,” he said.
Coming 2 America will be streaming on Amazon Prime Video from March 5