‘Jumanji 3’ Will Also Bring Back Nick Jonas’s Character
I’m still shocked thatJumanji: Welcome to the Jungleis the second-highest grossing movie in Sony’s history, coming in only behind the James Bond hitSkyfallat the worldwide box office. But audiences ate it up, and the studio has a sequel slated for release this winter with many of the previous film’s cast members coming back for more. Now we can add one additional name to the list ofJumanji 3’s returning players:Nick Jonas, who played Jefferson “Seaplane” McDonough, the avatar of a kid from 1996 who became trapped in the game – much like Robin Williams' character Alan Parrish in the original movie.
The Hollywood Reportersays Jonas will be returning for the still-untitledJumanji 3, though it’s still unclear what the plot will be or exactly how actors likeDwayne Johnson,Kevin Hart,Jack Black, andKaren Gillanwill factor into the story. InWelcome to the Jungle, those stars played the video game avatars for characters played byAlexWolff,Ser’Darius Blain,Madison Iseman, andMorgan Turner(all of whom arealso returning for this new sequel). Jonas was the avatar for a kid named Alex Vreeke, who unknowingly became trapped in the game for two decades and camped out at Alan Parrish’s jungle treehouse.
(Warning:spoilersforWelcome to the Jungleahead.)
The second film ends with the teenagers escaping the game and encountering a grown-up version of Alex (now played byColin Hanks), who explains that the game “spit him out right where [he] started,” back in 1996. He now has a wife and two children, and his daughter is named Bethany, after the once-narcissistic girl who selflessly saved Alex’s life inside the game.
Because secrecy around the new sequel is so strong, we can only speculate about how these characters may be involved. Will the teenagers get sucked into another game? Does that mean Colin Hanks is joining the teenagers? If not, that means Nick Jonas’s Jefferson “Seaplane” McDonough is going to be the avatar for an entirely different character.
My guess is that, in order to shake things up, all of the characters end up with different avatars this time around. That would give the big-name actors an opportunity to bring some new shades to their characters and not just repeat the same type of performance as the previous film. It’s also possible that the game avatars make the jump into the real world this time, bringing back a similar dynamic as the original 1995Jumanji. We’ll find out when directorJake Kasdan’sJumanji 3arrives onDecember 13, 2019.
