The new plan for Michael‘s ending and second film has reportedly been revealed. Michael is a planned Michael Jackson biopic from director Antoine Fuqua. In it, the King of Pop will be played by Jackson’s real-life nephew, Jaafar Jackson. The supporting cast includes Miles Teller, Colman Domingo, Kat Graham, Laura Harrier, and Nia Long.
In a different world, Michael would have been released already. The film was once scheduled to come out on April 18, 2025. Production delays then pushed the movie to October 2025, but the film then got entwined in legal trouble that left it pushed once again. Now, it is slated for April 24, 2026.
As per Puck, the plan for Michael has now been revealed. As of now, producer Graham King is still hoping for two biopics based on Jackson, but only one has been confirmed. The ending of this confirmed film will be a performance that leaves audiences “happy and uplifted.”
Content-wise, many of the darker parts of Jackson’s career, such as the accusations of pedophilia that he faced in the last third of his life, are left out of this new version. Those aspects of the singer’s life may be included in a possible sequel biopic. If said film comes to fruition, it would probably shoot next year and release in 2027.
What This Means For Michael
The Team Had To Ditch The Movie’s Original Ending
This update comes after Michael experienced a fraught legal path over the past few months. Though the project would reportedly maintain his innocence, the original biopic planned to address Jackson’s pedophilia and child molestation allegations. The film was to start and end with a 1993 allegation from Jordan Chandler.
It was said Chandler and his family were not portrayed pleasantly in this version, either. Rather than Chandler being framed as an abuse victim, Jackson was instead situated as the victim. The Chandler family would reportedly be painted as a money-hungry group of people making false claims.
The Michael team faced major legal issues, however, when it was uncovered that the Chandlers had previously entered a legal agreement with Jackson that forbade dramatization of their story. In late May, it was reported that Fuqua and his team had reshoots scheduled, and that the script would be rewritten.
This latest report confirms how exactly the script was reformed for this updated version. Michael took a simpler route, it sounds like, by choosing to glamorize the singer’s life rather than address any of his accusations.
Our Take On The Michael Update
The Late Singer Cannot Fully Escape The Controversy
Given the relative recency of the damning docuseries Leaving Neverland, there’s a good chance that this new version of Michael does not sit well with many fans. While Jackson’s music career is certainly iconic, he was a controversial figure in the later part of his life. As Michael hits theaters next April, it will be interesting to see how audiences end up reacting to the film.
Source: Puck
