Ice Cube was initially iffy about making a sequel to his beloved 1995 stoner comedy film Friday.
On the season one finale of the SpringHill show Mavericks with Mav Carter, Cube sat down with Carter and chatted about his venture into acting and screenwriting, the latter of which came at the suggestion of John Singleton.
After the success of Cube's screenwriting debut with Friday (which he co-wrote with DJ Pooh), the former N.W.A. member told Carter that he was "pushed into" making a sequel.
"I was pushed into doing Next Friday," Cube said before quickly correcting himself. "Not pushed, but I always thought, 'We did a great movie, don't touch it.'"
He continued, "My people was like, 'Yo, have you thought about ever doing a part two?' And it's like, 'Nah.' [They] said, 'You should think about it; people love the movie.' So, I'm glad I did it, because part two led to part three, led to me meeting Mike Epps and Katt Williams, Terry Crews."
But Cube admitted that if it were solely up to him, he "probably wouldn't have" made the 2000 film. "I probably wouldn't have, especially when I heard Chris [Tucker] didn't wanna do it. But, you know, by the time I heard he didn't wanna do it, I was invested in doing another one. We figured out the best way to keep going."
Cube concluded, "I'm grateful that I was pushed on that. That's fine, too. As long as, at a certain point, you gotta take the reins and buy into it and go full force."
The Friday film franchise had three installments, including Friday After Next in 2002, which was followed by Friday: The Animated Series in 2007. The original cast didn't have involvement in the series, but Tucker has expressed interest in making a fourth Friday film.
"I love that they did two more after the one I did. If it's possible, if it comes together right, I would try to do it. I'm a perfectionist, I'm sorry," Tucker told Audacy V-103 last year. "If it ain't gonna be great – I don't believe in 'some movies are good, some are not.' Nah, I'm going all the way; I want it to be great."
