Baby’s Back! Dirty Dancing sequel confirmed with Jennifer Grey

It’s official! Nearly 40 years on, the hit 1987 romance ‘Dirty Dancing’ is getting a sequel - and Jennifer Grey is returning.

Lionsgate confirmed this morning that the film is in development, with production starting in the coming months. 

Grey will reprise her role as Frances 'Baby' Houseman, a character she said has stayed with her for decades. 

“The role of Baby has held a very deep and meaningful place in my heart, as it has in the hearts of so many fans over the years,” Grey said in a statement earlier this year. 

“I’ve long wondered where we might find Baby years later and what her life might be like, but it’s taken time to assemble the kind of people that I felt could be entrusted to build on the legacy of the original film,” she told People magazine. 

Producers Nina Jacobsen and Brad Simpson, who have previously worked on 'The Hunger Games' and 'Crazy Rich Asians', will lead the project, with Grey as executive producer. 

While Grey is excited to step back into her dancing shoes, she has previously said she wouldn’t attempt to recreate the same chemistry she once had with co-star Patrick Swayze, who sadly died in 2009. 

“All I can say is there is no replacing anyone who’s passed,” she told People at the time. 

“You can never try to repeat anything that’s magic like that, you just go for something different.”

While some fans are buzzing about the new movie, others seem to feel it “won’t be the same without Swayze”. 

“Why add to something that’s perfect? We don’t need a sequel,” read one comment on Lionsgate’s announcement post.

“Without Patrick? No, thank you,” wrote another. 

Despite the mixed emotions, it’ll be great to see what Jennifer and the team will bring to the role to revive such a classic.