Two decades later, Nick Persons is about to be pulled back into family chaos—this time with a generational twist that flips the whole premise of the franchise on its head.
A third instalment in the long-dormant Are We There Yet? series is now in early development at Skydance Sports, reuniting Ice Cube and Nia Long as Nick and Suzanne once again.
The new film carries the working title Are They Gone Yet?, and according to Deadline, it picks up years after the original 2005 road-trip comedy and its 2007 sequel, with Nick now dealing with something he never signed up for: grandkids.
That premise alone signals the shift. The first film, Are We There Yet?, built its comedy on forced proximity and reluctant responsibility—Nick transporting Suzanne’s children on a chaotic road trip. The sequel, Are We Done Yet?, moved the tension into domestic life, suburban renovations, and clashing egos. This third chapter appears to age the entire framework forward rather than reboot it: the kids are grown, the stakes are relational legacy, not custody or construction.
Chris Hazzard and Mike Fontana are writing the screenplay, with Ice Cube’s production banner CubeVision involved alongside Broken Road. The production setup suggests continuity behind the camera, even as the narrative moves into unfamiliar territory.
Ice Cube, speaking about the project, framed it less as nostalgia and more as time catching up with the characters. “We built something special with this franchise,” he said, noting that audiences have effectively grown up alongside Nick Persons and now get to see what that looks like when the family structure expands into a new generation.
The commercial history backs the revisit. The two earlier films collectively grossed over US$156 million worldwide, and the property later spun into a TBS sitcom that ran for three seasons, extending the brand far beyond its theatrical life.
What’s different now is the angle: instead of transporting kids across a snowy highway or surviving suburban home renovations, Nick is being repositioned into a familiar but less explored comedy space—ageing parents dealing with adult children, and the complications that come when the “problem” generation becomes the one raising its own.
