Daveed Diggs Says Helen Hunt's 'Twister' Sequel Idea Was Scrapped for 'Potentially Shady' Reasons

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Diggs alleged to Insider that the way the idea was shut down was "shady in the way that we know the industry is shady"

David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty, Monica Schipper/Getty Helen Hunt; Daveed Diggs
David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty, Monica Schipper/Getty Helen Hunt; Daveed Diggs

Daveed Diggs is reflecting on the Twister sequel that could have been.

Speaking with Insider for an interview published Wednesday, the Hamilton star said he was "not going to get into" the reasons the rumored sequel was never made, "mostly because I'm probably going to misremember things."

"But all I'll say is there was an opportunity where we were talking about that, and it didn't happen, and the reasons that it didn't happen are potentially shady," added Diggs, 41.

"But shady in the way that we know the industry is shady," he said.

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Mary Evans/Ronald Grant/Everett Collection Bill Paxton and Helen Hunt in <em>Twister</em> (1996)
Mary Evans/Ronald Grant/Everett Collection Bill Paxton and Helen Hunt in Twister (1996)

Related: Twister Sequel Sets 2024 Summer Release Date

The actor/musician's comments come almost two years after the original movie's star Helen Hunt said during an appearance on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen that she "tried to get [a sequel] made" with herself, Diggs and the latter's Blindspotting co-writer Rafael Casal penning the script.

According to Hunt, who would've also directed, the movie was set to feature "all Black and Brown storm chasers," but the powers that be "wouldn't do it."

"We could barely get a meeting, and this is in June of 2020 when it was all about diversity. And it would've have been so cool," continued the 59-year-old actress.

"There was a HBCU [historically Black college and university] where we wanted it to take place, and a rocket-science club, and in this one, they shoot the rockets into the tornado," Hunt added. "It was gonna be so cool."

Reps for Hunt and Universal Pictures did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's requests for comment Wednesday afternoon.

Warner Bros/Courtesy Everett Collection <em>Twister</em> (1996)
Warner Bros/Courtesy Everett Collection Twister (1996)

Related: "#HollywoodSoWhite": Women and Minorities Vastly Underrepresented in Film, TV on Both Ends of Camera, Study Shows

Universal Pictures announced this past December that a follow-up film titled Twisters, is set for theatrical release on July 19, 2024.

PEOPLE previously confirmed that the studio and Amblin Entertainment were working on the film. Mark L. Smith, who penned 2015's The Revenant, is writing the sequel, with Jurassic World Dominion's Frank Marshall producing. Lee Isaac Chung (Minari) will direct.

Twister, released in 1996, starred Hunt and the late Bill Paxton as two storm-chasing scientists trying to collect data on a series of powerful tornados.

The film — directed by Speed's Jan De Bont, executive produced by Steven Spielberg and written by Jurassic Park author Michael Crichton — was a gigantic financial success, earning over $494 million in theaters, according to Box Office Mojo.

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