The Michael Jackson biopic was never going to fit into one film. It came out in April 2026, made over a billion dollars, became the highest-grossing music biopic ever made — and it stops in 1987. It covers the boy from Gary, the Jackson 5, the rise, and the making of Bad. Then it ends, with more than two decades of his life still untold.
So a sequel is happening. Lionsgate has confirmed it. And Jaafar Jackson — Michael’s nephew, who plays him — has now said publicly what he hopes it will do. It is not what most people expect.
Here is where the project stands. Lionsgate chairman Adam Fogelson told analysts the studio is “targeting a production start towards the end of this year or early next” — so late 2026 or early 2027. As for release, he said the current thinking is “end of calendar ’27 and the first half of calendar ’28.” He was careful to add that nothing is fully locked in yet.
There is also a practical head start. Because the first film was originally written to cover Michael’s whole life, a significant amount of footage has already been shot — including major musical sequences — and Fogelson has indicated that material will likely be used.
Jaafar Jackson Speaks On How Allegations Will Be Portrayed In ‘Michael’ Sequel
Now, why the first film stopped where it did- this is the part most people get wrong. It was not a creative decision to avoid difficult material. The original third act had already been written and filmed, and it dealt with the 1993 allegations. Then the estate’s lawyers discovered a clause in an old settlement stating that the accuser could never be depicted or mentioned on screen. The whole section had to be cut, the third act rewritten, and roughly 22 days of additional photography shot to fill the gap.
Which is exactly why Jaafar’s comments matter. Speaking to GQ Middle East, he made clear what he wants from the second film — and he went straight at the hardest subject.
“I think the second film will give even more insight from his point of view,” he said, “because at the end of the day, [the allegations] are always from someone else’s.”
Michael – Official Behind-The-Scenes Video (2026) Jaafar Jackson, Nia Long, Colman Domingo
He expanded on it, and it’s clear the family has felt this for a long time. “It’s someone else’s story. It’s someone else’s idea of what it is, and it’s mainly driven by an agenda. And that’s really the issue we’ve been having as a family — not having Michael’s voice being heard. I think that’s very, very important, especially in the late years.”
He was honest about his own limits, too. The screenplay is still being written, and he has been clear that he has no say over what goes in it.
What he does hope survives into the sequel is something less legal and more human. He described the version of his uncle he wants people to see in the later years — the one that, in his view, never actually changed:
“He never changed that purity, that sense of always wanting to find the good in other people. And no matter all the stuff he went through, how he was treated, what things were said about him, he never stopped treating people with kindness. He never stopped believing in and wanting to look for the good in people… even though he was broken, his heart still stayed the same. I hope that this is felt in the second movie.”
Whether the film delivers that is a question for 2028. But it is now the stated ambition of the man playing him.