Kal Penn’s ‘Harold & Kumar’ Franchise Set For Fourth Film

India-West News Desk

LOS ANGELES, CA – A fourth Harold & Kumar film is officially in development, with original creators Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg set to write and direct the upcoming installment, alongside co-writer Josh Heald.

The movie will be produced by Mandate Pictures, a subsidiary of Lionsgate. John Cho and Kal Penn are expected to reprise their roles as Harold and Kumar in the stoner comedy series.

“We’re fired up to bring Harold and Kumar back in a return to the unapologetically R-rated, smoke-filled chaos that started it all,” Hurwitz and Schlossberg said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter, which first reported the news. “It’s high time they puff and pass their wisdom onto a new generation. Just don’t tell their kids.”

The original film, Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle (2004), followed two friends on a late-night fast food run that spiraled into an absurd adventure. Its success led to two sequels: Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay (2008) and A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas (2011).

In a 2020 interview with Variety, Penn had voiced continued interest in the franchise. “We would love to do a fourth movie. John Cho and I text about it all the time,” he said, noting that the original team was keen but waiting for the right timing and platform.

It remains unclear whether Neil Patrick Harris, who played a recurring, exaggerated version of himself in the earlier films, will return for the upcoming sequel.