There’s no question how successful Michael has been this year, earning $1.021 billion at the box office globally to become the biggest biopic of all time. Antoine Fuqua’s movie focused on Michael Jackson’s life and career up to the 1988 Bad Tour — meaning the film predated the “ugliest chapters” of the singer’s life. However, Lionsgate has already begun moving forward with a sequel, and Jaafar Jackson — who starred as his uncle Michael in the movie — spoke about if and how the sexual abuse accusations will be handled.
The ending of Michael said that, “His Story Continues,” and given how much money the Michael Jackson biopic made, it’s inevitable that there will be another upcoming music biopic depicting other stages of the late singer’s life. With the first of the child abuse allegations against Jackson coming around 1993, it also seems inevitable that a sequel would have to address that. GQ straight-up asked Jaafar Jackson about it, and the actor responded:
I think the second film will give even more insight from his point of view, because at the end of the day, [the allegations] are always from someone else’s. 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.
Jaafar Jackson said the screenplay for the Michael sequel is still in development, and he has no real say in what’s included and what’s not. However, his focus seems to be — and always has been, really — making sure his uncle’s voice is the one that shines through.
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While some critics, like Finding Neverland director Dan Reed, have blasted Michael for sidestepping the accusations of child molestation, the biopic originally did address it. The movie was allegedly going to address allegations of “sexual offensive contacts” with 13-year-old Jordan Chandler. However, Michael Jackson’s estate apparently has an agreement with the Chandler family to never dramatize those events, deeming the original ending unusable. Reshoots were done, which apparently cost an insane amount of money.
Between the timeline of the King of Pop’s life that Michael explored and the legal agreements that prevented some aspects of Michael Jackson’s life from being depicted, I can see how Antoine Fuqua and Lionsgate were able to avoid the more controversial aspects.
However, I’ll be interested to see if we’re in for a much darker sequel that does address the child sexual abuse accusations, and if so, if Jaafar Jackson will get to portray that aspect of the story from Michael Jackson’s perspective. Either way, it’s a tricky and delicate situation.
In the meantime, we’ll also be able to see more of Jaafar Jackson, as he’s landed his first post-Michael role. Jaafar will star alongside Will Smith in the upcoming action thriller Supermax, which is currently filming. Stay tuned to the 2026 movie calendar for more upcoming releases.
