At last: sequel confirmed for raunchy R-rated crime thriller, 14 years on

If there’s one thing you can absolutely count on from Harmony Korine, it’s that he’ll deliver something you didn’t see coming. His cinematic track record is almost built on confusing the punters—think Gummo’s nihilist weirdness, Trash Humpers’ camcorder freakshow, or his more recent fixation on tech oddities, like Aggro Dr1ft shot entirely with infrared cameras. In the case of Spring Breakers, he actually went a bit more mainstream—at least, by his very loose standards.

The film dropped back in 2013, following a quartet of college girls going full-tilt into the wild side during spring break—think robberies, shootouts, the works. For once, Korine’s narrative played out in a fairly linear fashion, and featured Selena Gomez and Vanessa Hudgens swapping their squeaky-clean Disney reps for something—well, a lot less squeaky. Ashley Benson, Rachel Korine, and James Franco (as the memorable, cornrowed drug dealer ‘Alien’) rounded out the lineup. Spring Breakers wound up his biggest box office success to date, banking $31.7 million. No one really pegged it as a candidate for a sequel, but apparently, someone out there strongly disagreed.

Spring Breakers remains Harmony Korine's highest-grossing film ever, taking in $31.7 million worldwide.

Enter Bella Thorne

News first surfaced in 2025 that a follow-up was in the works, with a completely different team and no sign of Korine himself. The once-rumoured cast included Bella Thorne—another former Disney star, which is quickly starting to feel like a requirement—and now she’s revealed she’s not only starring, but writing and directing the whole affair. Thorne dropped the news on the Call Her Daddy podcast, in what has to be one of the more unexpected career pivots lately:

She explained that the producers were impressed after seeing an early version of her recent film Color Your Hurt, and then:

‘The producers watched Color Your Hurt, which is the movie that I just wrapped, an early cut of it. And they asked me to write something to see if they would like it ... And they loved it! And now I’m writing and directing Spring Breakers 2.'

Thorne was originally lined up to appear alongside Grace Van Dien, Ariel Martin, and True Whitaker. Given the creative overhaul, it’s not exactly clear if any of them are still involved now she’s holding the director’s megaphone.

What’s the Sequel Actually About?

If you're wondering whether the new Spring Breakers is aiming for the same blend of glossy anarchy and not-so-subtle satire, Thorne hasn’t confirmed much—other than that she plans to crank the chaos up several notches. Trying her utmost not to spoil anything (or step on the producers’ toes), she did say this:

‘I don’t want to get in trouble, but what I can say is it is so litty, litty McTitties ... From start to finish, it’s lit as f*ck. We are having fun. If you want to go to the theater and have fun, you’re going to have fun with this movie, that’s for sure.'

The original film had its cartoonish moments, but it wasn’t just about wild parties and gunfights for the sake of it—there was some sneaky social commentary underneath, poking at spring break culture and the disconnect between violence on screen and in real life. Whether Thorne intends to dig into any of those same themes, or just go full throttle on the mayhem, is anyone’s guess right now. Proper details—plot, cast, release date—are all still firmly under wraps.