More than 30 years later, Hall and Murphy are back as Akeem and Semmi in the film’s highly anticipated sequel, Coming 2 America (on Amazon Prime March 5). Today, the characters, an African prince and his aide hilariously attempting |to navigate New York City, are instantly recognizable – and the original film is more beloved than ever.
For Hall, the sequel also represents an emotional comeback moment. After rising to fame in the ’90s with his groundbreaking late-night talk show The Arsenio Hall Show, he stepped away from Hollywood to focus on raising his son. “It’s time for me to do some more acting and some more stand-up,” he says.
In the sequel the pair return to America to find Akeem’s long-lost son (Jermaine Fowler). Along the way, they reteam with original co-stars (see sidebar) and join new ones, including Tracy Morgan, Leslie Jones, and Wesley Snipes. “Tracy Morgan is funny every time he speaks. I wasn’t a guarantee to be in Coming 2 America,” jokes Hall. “But Tracy Morgan was gonna be in it.”
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