Alan Rickman and Emma Thompson’s storyline was perhaps the most heartbreaking of the 2003 ensemble “Love Actually.” When Harry (Rickman) attracts attention from his young secretary ― spoiler! ― his wife and the devoted mother of his children, Karen (Thompson), finds out after realizing a necklace he’d bought wasn’t a gift for her. Instead, she’d received instead a decidedly unsexy Joni Mitchell CD, and their marriage is left strained.
Unfortunately for fans, the upcoming mini-sequel to the hit film won’t fill us in on what Harry and Karen have been up to.
According to director Richard Curtis, the new script won’t include Thompson or a tribute to Rickman, who died in 2016, per Digital Spy. It’s just too tough.
“You know, dealing with Alan is very complicated,” Curtis told the Press Association, so a tribute is “not really” part of the plan. He also confirmed the actress won’t be able to participate.
The project, announced last week, will be made in celebration of Red Nose Day, a biennial event that supports the British charity Comic Relief that Curtis co-founded in 1985. Original cast members including Hugh Grant, Keira Knightley, Colin Firth, Bill Nighy, Liam Neeson, Andrew Lincoln, Thomas Brodie-Sangster and Rowan Atkinson are all set to appear ― so at least we’ll find out what happened after that creepy nighttime cue-card scene between Juliet (Knightley) and her husband’s best friend, Mark. (Lincoln, who played Mark, has said his character “is a stalker.”)
“It’ll certainly be a nostalgic moment getting back together and recreating their characters 14 years later,” Curtis said in a statement last week.
It’s set to air March 24 on BBC One and May 25 on NBC.
