Why Patrick Swayze NEVER agreed to a Dirty Dancing sequel

12 February 2025, 16:46 | Updated: 12 February 2025, 16:50

Dirty Dancing's sequel is due for release in 2025, but Patrick Swayze never wanted another movie.

Patrick Swayze didn’t want to star in a Dirty Dancing sequel in the early 2000s.

Speaking with US talk show host Conan O’Brien on his late night talk show in 2002, the Johnny Castle actor was asked for his thoughts on a then-rumoured sequel which was to star Latin pop star Ricky Martin.

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The film eventually became a reality in 2004 with Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights, a prequel to the original 80s film.

Watch the original movie trailer for Dirty Dancing

Diego Luna and Romola Garai starred in the lead roles, but the film was not a critical or box office success.

While chatting with Conan, Patrick was clear about why he would have never said yes to making another Dirty Dancing movie.

“No way, not a chance,” he said bluntly.

Despite “wishing [he]’d taken” the $10 million dollars he was once offered for a sequel based on the 1987 hit film, Patrick explained he didn’t like the idea of making the film into a “formula”.

Patrick Swayze on the Power of "Dirty Dancing" | Late Night with Conan O’Brien

“People in Hollywood, once they decide they’ve got a formula on something, they decide to run it into the ground,” he warned.

“They didn’t realise that the power of [Dirty Dancing] was not Patrick Swayze swinging his butt, but it was about heart. It was about the funky little Jewish girl who gets the guy – and that’s a sweet thing.”

2025’s Dirty Dancing movie will – unlike 2004’s Havana Nights – be a sequel to the original film and will star Jennifer Grey as an older Frances ‘Baby’ Houseman.

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The film will be set in the 90s, and will only make references to Patrick Swayze’s character Johnny rather than recast the actor, who died from pancreatic cancer in 2009, aged 57.

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“There is no replacing anyone who’s passed – you never try to repeat anything that’s magic like that,” Jennifer told People November 2020, when early news about the upcoming movie was revealed.

The actress also confirmed that the film would be doing “something different” to its predecessor.

Therefore, there is hope that 2025’s Dirty Dancing sequel will avoid falling into the trap its other lead warned about so many years ago.

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