The cast of the comedy sequel Coming 2 America has brought back a lot of key players from the original Paramount Pictures hit from 1988. Plus, plenty of new faces have been added to the roster of talent alongside returning stars Eddie Murphy and Arsenio Hall. But one key member from the original film had not yet return, and thankfully, that has changed.

Shari Headley, who played Prince Akeem’s love interest Lisa McDowell, is officially part of the Coming 2 America cast. However, based on the details we know about the film’s plot, we’re wondering what her overall role in the movie will be.

As we recently heard, Coming 2 America finds Akeem (Eddie Murphy) heading back to Queens, New York to connect with a son that he never knew he had and fulfill his father’s dying wish of lining up the next heir to the throne of Zamunda. But we’re wondering exactly how Akeem had a son that he never knew about. In the original Coming to America, Akeem wasn’t the kind of person who would have had an illegitimate child with another woman. So how does he have a son that he has no knowledge of? Perhaps the key lies with Lisa McDowell’s role in the story.

Our own Hoai-Tran Bui proposed the idea that Lisa McDowell may have walked away from Zamunda, perhaps shaken by the pressure of eventually becoming queen of an entire country. Then she returned to America without telling Akeem that she was pregnant with his child. That seems plausible enough, but at the same time, Akeem gave her a chance to walk away from it at the very end of the movie, and she seemed pretty eager to give it a shot.

My own theory is that this son (played by Jermaine Fowler), who has been living in Queens with his mother (Leslie Jones), isn’t actually the offspring of Akeem. Instead, I wouldn’t be surprised if the child ended up belonging to Semmi, who was very keen on sleeping with as many women as possible in America. Perhaps that son will return to Zamunda with Semmi and the end features some kind of hint that he’ll fall for Akeem’s daughter, played by KiKi Layne, making him her king, but eventually leaving the ruling of the country to the queen for the first time. After all, it worked for Aladdin earlier this year.

Either way, we’re glad to hear from Deadline that Shari Headley will be back for the sequel, and she’ll be joined by John Amos as her father Cleo McDowell. And we’re very much interested in seeing the state of the McDowell’s empire after all these years too.

Coming 2 America arrives in theaters on December 18, 2020.

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