Will Arnold's State Farm Commercial Finally Make A Twins Sequel Happen?
"Twins" fans rejoiced on Super Bowl Sunday when former co-stars Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito reunited in State Farm's ad for the big game. The commercial shows Schwarzenegger butting heads with the commercial's director, as he keeps pronouncing "neighbor" in the company's famous slogan as "neigh-ba," highlighting the actor's instantly recognizable accent. In the end, the issue is addressed by bringing DeVito into the commercial, who reads the line as directed. "You are a backstab-ah," Schwarzenegger whispers at the end of the commercial. "Backstabber," DeVito corrects.
If you've spent the last three and a half decades since "Twins" came out in 1988 waiting for a sequel, the new State Farm ad may have given you hope. A second film was in the works for the better part of a decade beginning in 2012, when it was announced that Eddie Murphy might be joining the two original stars as yet another brother. The sequel, aptly titled "Triplets," went through several iterations and nearly began filming in 2022 with Tracy Morgan taking Murphy's place as the new sibling.
Those plans were interrupted when director Ivan Reitman passed away in February of 2022. Since then, there have been no moves to resume the project, and according to Schwarzenegger, there may never be.
Twins 2 may never happen, but Schwarzenegger and DeVito could still reunite
You'd think that even after the death of Ivan Reitman, "Triplets" could still find a way to go forward. After all, there was a full script, a prepared cast, and production was ready to begin. According to Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jason Reitman, son of the late director, was the one who stepped in and stopped the project from moving forward.
"Jason Reitman literally stopped the project when his father died," Schwarzenegger told The Hollywood Reporter in 2023. "His father wanted to do it really badly. I wanted to do it really badly. Danny DeVito wanted to do it really badly. We had the financing. When his father passed away, Jason says, 'I never liked the idea' and put a hold on it."
While fans may be sad to learn that "Triplets" might never happen, there is hope for a reunion between Schwarzenegger and DeVito beyond the Super Bowl State Farm commercial. "I'm developing another movie with Danny," Schwarzenegger said in the same interview with The Hollywood Reporter. "He's so much fun to work with and so talented."