Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill's 24 Jump Street is officially in the works

Jump Street is coming back, and the franchise has decided to skip right over the obvious option. Instead of lining up a neat little 23 Jump Street, Sony has officially announced 24 Jump Street is in the works—leaving logic at the door, but for good reason.

Why Have One Sequel When You Can Have Several?

If you watched 22 Jump Street all the way to the end, you saw a ridiculous closing montage where Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill’s characters—Jenko and Schmidt—go undercover at every possible institution known to humankind. We’re talking medical school, dance school, even a trip to outer space. This was the series poking fun at sequel mania and getting properly absurd about it. In other words, the film already imagined a fake 23 Jump Street (and maybe about ten more). So, naming the new instalment 24 Jump Street isn’t senseless; it’s basically a meta joke for fans paying attention.

Let’s Talk Crew and Cast

The creative lot behind the first two Jump Street entries are all back in one way or another:

• Rodney Rothman, who co-wrote 22 Jump Street, is now in the director’s seat. He penned the script for the new film with help from Jonah Hill himself and Meghan Malloy.
• Phil Lord and Chris Miller—the minds behind the tone and humour of the originals—are set to produce, joined by Neal H. Moritz, who also got people talking by posting a photo of the script on Instagram, adding the caption: ‘A picture says a thousand words.’
• Channing Tatum and Reid Carolin will produce through their Free Association label, while Jonah Hill and Matt Dines are attached through Strong Baby Productions.
• Channing Tatum, Jonah Hill, and Ice Cube are all in discussions to return in front of the camera, but nothing’s locked in just yet.

A Quick Refresher for the Forgetful

For anyone who needs a memory jog: 21 Jump Street popped up in 2012, rebooting the 1980s TV series (the Johnny Depp one, if you care) as a knowingly silly, self-parodying action-comedy. It was a hit; so was 22 Jump Street two years later, which saw the undercover cop routine shift from high school to college. Both films doubled down on mocking their own reboot status, doing so with a healthy box office take.

The Never-Ending (Until Now) Third Film Saga

It’s not like they haven’t tried a third film before. After 22 Jump Street, script ideas floated around under the title 23 Jump Street, which apparently blew Channing Tatum’s mind: he once said it was ‘the best’ script he’d read for a third outing. Still, nothing ever materialised publicly, and the project faded into the Hollywood ether. Now, with 24 Jump Street officially in development, the franchise is having another go—just minus the entirely linear title sequence.

There’s no word yet on when to actually expect 24 Jump Street in cinemas.