‘No more nerves’: Actress Blake Lively revisits her favourite character in Another Simple Favor

AUSTIN, Texas – Set at a wedding in Italy, Another Simple Favor reunites Blake Lively, Anna Kendrick and Henry Golding, who reprise their roles from the 2018 murder mystery-comedy A Simple Favor.

And much has changed for all three actors since then, with Golding and Kendrick’s careers taking off and Lively achieving notoriety after her romantic drama It Ends With Us (2024), which sparked a series of legal and reputational battles for the star since end-2024.

Now streaming on Prime Video, the sequel continues the tale of the friendship-turned-rivalry between mummy vlogger Stephanie (Kendrick) and her glamorous pal Emily (Lively).

It picks up five years after the events of the original movie, which saw Emily stage her death and her husband Sean (Golding) accused of her murder before she is revealed to be alive – and sentenced to 20 years in prison for murdering her sister and father.

Stephanie is now a true-crime vlogger and Emily, released from prison on appeal, insists Stephanie attend her extravagant wedding to Dante (Michele Morrone), a wealthy Italian with mob ties.

But the festivities soon spiral into chaos as betrayal, family secrets and murder unfold once again.

At a question-and-answer session for Another Simple Favor at the SXSW film festival in Austin, Texas, in March, Lively says she was thrilled when American director Paul Feig asked her to return to this role.

“I love this character so much. It’s probably my favourite character that I’ve been fortunate enough to play, so when Paul asked us to come back, I was so excited,” says the 37-year-old American actress, who has faced intense media scrutiny in recent months over the duelling lawsuits between her and her It Ends With Us co-star and director Justin Baldoni.

“I was really nervous on the first one because we didn’t know if we were making a drama or a comedy,” adds the star, who is suing Baldoni for sexual harassment and is being countersued by the 41-year-old American actor for defamation.

“But it worked out, so I was, like, ‘Okay, no nerves – I know what I’m doing this time.’ And getting to work with Anna and this incredible group of people, it was amazing,” Lively says.

Stephanie is now an accomplished author and detective, but she is still obsessed with Emily.

Asked why Stephanie keeps being drawn to her like a moth to a flame, Kendrick – who headlined the Pitch Perfect musical comedies (2012 to 2017) – says of the character: “I think maybe I start out just not taking any of it that seriously.

“But when some s*** goes down, then I’m like, ‘Oh, things are actually dark and scary,’” says the 39-year-old American actress, who was Oscar-nominated for her role in the comedy-drama Up In The Air (2009) and directed the Netflix crime thriller Woman Of The Hour (2023).

Golding, 38, was also happy to return to his character Sean, and many of the cast and crew who worked on the original.

“It was a joy to come back and, of course, to be with the girls and Paul,” says the Malaysia-born British actor of Kendrick, Lively and Feig.

“It’s amazing to see everybody that we filmed with five or six years ago. We’ve all grown and we’ve all seen our careers blossom.

“And it’s just awesome to come back to a character that you’re so familiar with,” adds the star of the romantic comedy Crazy Rich Asians (2018), who also appeared in action film The Ministry Of Ungentlemanly Warfare (2024).

But he lobbied for his character to be different this time. “Before the production started, me and Paul went out for lunch and I was like, ‘We need to make him a complete a*****e,’” Golding says.

“He was always kind of a d***,” adds Lively jokingly.

Feig, 62, explains why he wanted to make a sequel, the first he has done.

“I always shied away from (that) because I think they’re really terrifying, and I haven’t seen many sequels that I like,” says the film-maker, who helmed hit comedies such as Bridesmaids (2011) and The Heat (2013).

“But I just love these characters so much – and it just felt like they had something to revisit.”