Turning Red has only been out for a short while, so there’s no confirmation of a
sequel in the works quite yet. The people behind the film have given their support of the idea,
with Sandra Oh pitching her own ideas for a plot and with Rosalie Chiang confirming she
would be involved with any continuation of the story. With the possibility hanging in the air,
fans have come up with their own speculations of what Turning Red 2 could possibly revolve around.
I’m Kifinosi with WickedBinge and this is Turning Red : Sequel Possibilities.
The first possibility on our list is Mei Surviving School. Seeing as Turning Red took place when Mei
was in the eight grade, right before her start to highschool, it would make sense that the next
time we see her, she would be taking on another year just before a big hurdle. Maybe her senior
year of highschool just before going off to university, or even her first year at university.
Throughout the first movie, it was shown how Mei was able to use her friends to center and
calm herself. Though they did come across a rough patch in their friendship when Mei was reluctant
to speak up against her mother, it was Miriam, Abby and Priya that helped Mei control her powers.
During a time in a young adult’s life such as their senior year or going off to university,
the group would be caught in a situation where all of these girls would be forging their own paths.
It would be interesting to see if they could still remain close or if the sudden feeling
of being left to deal with her powers alone would have any effect on Mei.
There’s a small chance that a film involving them in college might keep them relatively close
knit, following something more like Monsters University. In that instance,
Mikey and Sully had bonded in college and stayed close colleagues when following their careers.
It’s a slim chance, but Mei and her friends could have a similar setup with all of them
using their own passions to help one another as they aged and gained a higher education.
Of course, should a follow-up film be made, but focusing on Mei preparing for the opportunity of
attending a university, there is also the chance that she would once again be faced with a choice.
After all, the temple was something her family took great pride in. Something that Mei expressed
to have great pride in, as she happily helped out with the tours and cleaning even after gaining
more independence. It would make sense that Mei would instead choose to focus her energy on the
temple rather than going off to university. That could lead to a story revolving around
Mei getting used to the idea of being at home while her friends moved away to attend school.
Or maybe another of the girls would go straight to work nearby,
leaving at least one long time friend for Mei to continue meeting with.
Instead of a continuation, some fans thought there was potential for a prequel,
such as Learning More About Sun-Yee. Hearing Sun-Yee’s story, it would be easy to play out
what a film about her life would look like. We could see how Sun-Yee became so fascinated
with the red pandas and developed her spiritual ties to them. Being able to
see for ourselves how Sun-Yee first harnessed the power for herself and how she learned to
control it would make for a great movie. Even if it wasn’t given a full feature film-seeing
as we essentially know how it ended-it would still make for a great addition to the story.
There is also the possibility of a prequel involving Sun-Yee to
instead focus on her two daughters receiving the gift to transform,
with their mother teaching them how to control the blessing.
Of course a magic power passed down generation to generation gives a perfect setup to
Introducing an Old Rivalry. Since the family received their gifts centuries beforehand,
with Sun-Yee able to channel her connection to the red panda into a power for herself,
it only stands to reason that someone else would have had a similar idea.
Having groups of traveling bandits and armies that would look to pillage a vulnerable community
would easily spread word about a woman that could transform into a mystical beast.
Not only would word about this phenomenon spread,
but it would have given others the idea to attempt their own transformation.
Having a sequel that revealed an old rival the family long since forgotten about or just refused
to speak about, believing them to no longer be a threat, would be an interesting story.
We already know that the family grew to be ashamed of their blessing.
As we pointed out on a previous list, there was a chance that being able to channel their
emotions could help them control what size their red panda form came out as.
It was seen with Mei that she was able to quickly switch her forms for agility
and was the first in generations to be able to control which form she took. She had been able
to take down her mother’s red panda, but would that same skill hold up against a rival force?
After a few years, Mei would master her abilities more and more. By the time a rival would show,
there could be a chance that Mei could channel a red panda that was closer in size to her mother,
as Sun Yee was said to have done.
However, it would be possible that a rival family would insist on keeping up with the
generational blessing, keeping up maintaining it without gaining unwanted attention. After all,
had Mei been told ahead of time that she was going to eventually transform,
she would likely have never been spotted on national television.
Which leads up to how an enemy would likely find the family. Ming herself had said she
wasn’t worried about covering up the story the media released as
no one had any way of telling if it was Mei that was causing all that damage. Her own mother,
Wu, had figured it out quickly and an enemy would also be fast when connecting the dots.
Of course, there would also be no guarantee that the enemy would be an entire family. The origin
of Sun-Yee’s power established that she was able to connect with a higher divine being. The rival
in question could always be another divine force that just didn’t agree with Sun-Yee’s family being
given the gift of the red panda from the start. Perhaps they relented when they saw the family
repress the power on their own, only to come out of the woodwork when Mei openly flaunted the gift.
It wouldn’t be the first time a story of a divine being insulted and lashing out would be released.
As seen with Disney’s Hercules in 1999 or Dreamworks’ release of Sinbad : Legend of the
Seven Seas in 2003, conflict between a mortal and a god or goddess can make for an intense plotline.
Another speculated idea bouncing around with fans is if there will be a Focus on Mei’s
Extended Family. Since we’ve been introduced to Mei’s aunts, it wouldn’t be too outlandish to
think we could get more content centering around them and their own children. The Aunties made a
bang even with their limited screen time in the movie. Their powerup when they rushed to help
Wu and Mei drag Ming into the circle won over a lot of fans. That alone makes them the perfect
candidates to at least get some sort of short feature, even if a full movie couldn’t be done.
Seeing any cousins would have the potential for a full film or series.
Especially if those cousins were just young enough that we could see the Aunties allowing their
children to choose for themselves whether or not to keep their red panda. Seeing Mei harness her
powers and control it as she had no doubt left the Aunties with a lot to consider when it came
to how they viewed their curse. There would be a chance that at least one of them would encourage
one of their own children to explore their powers and treat it as a gift rather than as a curse.
No doubt that one or two of the Aunties would be on the fence about such an idea
causing some conflict in the family. Or maybe Wu would be torn about the idea and insist on a
bunch of precautions, making the situation more stressful than it would need to be.
There would also be the chance that perhaps one of said cousins could be experiencing their shifting
when the Aunties are a little too busy dealing with Ming and Mei.
Finally we have our last theory on this list: Mei in Adulthood.
Sandra Oh had expressed some interest in seeing Mei officially becoming an adult
should a sequel be released. She stated to CinemaBlend that she wouldn’t have minded a
story revolving around Mei being in college or perhaps tackling motherhood herself.
Seeing Mei as a mother and seeing how she would help her own daughter or daughters
deal with their transformations would make for a fitting follow-up to her story. With
Mei being open about her powers, the feature could go one of two ways.
One, Mei’s daughter could grow up preparing for the gift, and be looking forward to receiving it,
only for something to go wrong. Perhaps her red panda form would be too big to handle. Maybe
something like what happened to Mirabel in Encanto would occur and she wouldn’t be given a red panda.
Or two, maybe being told about the pressure of the generational blessing would have a
negative effect on Mei’s daughter. Maybe they would be too overcome with fear to
be able to control the red panda at first. Or perhaps they would reject the gift completely,
not wanting to be associated with her mother, the red panda that everyone in town knew about.
On the plus side, we know with Mei being open with her powers would mean any story
of her experiencing motherhood wouldn’t be just a repeat of The Little Mermaid II,
where Ariel kept her past a secret from her own child until everything hit the fan.
As much as we enjoy a Disney feature, it would be boring to see the same movie again
and again with just the names changed. But let us know in the comment section
if you agree with our list. And tell us what we should cover next. Remember to
hit that notification bell and binge more of our videos. But most importantly, stay wicked.