Best Exotic Marigold Hotel sequel teases its many fanboys with possible addition of Richard Gere

By Sean O'Neal | October 30, 2013 | 10:16pm

Aux Features Film

Sure to inspire intense Internet debate among its devoted fanboys—or Goldies, as they prefer to be called—The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel 2 has begun courting Richard Gere for a new, as-yet-unspecified role in the upcoming sequel. The follow-up to the surprise hit of 2012 promises to revisit the faraway, imaginary world of “India” and expand on that universe, perhaps with a back story on how, exactly, the hotel came to be the best, or even by introducing a dark, rival Exotic Marigold Hotel that vies for the title, thereby threatening the entire world.

Whatever the plot, there would seem to be little room for any new characters among the returning ensemble of British retirees—each of them with their own devoted followings that would surely prefer to see their favorite characters’ mythologies more deeply explored. (Just look at the stores this Halloween, where they’re apparently unable to keep Best Exotic Marigold costumes on the shelves.) Still, director John Madden seems to believe that Gere will fit in there somewhere as Judi Dench, Bill Nighy, Penelope Wilton, and Maggie Smith prepare to assemble again, extending him an invitation that we presume read, “Hello, Richard Gere, you are old now.”