“Love Jones,” the 1997 film starring Nia Long and her heartthrob co-star Larenz Tate, is a Black romance classic that still has a hold on movie lovers’ hearts.
From the soundtrack to the dialogue to the chemistry, the film taps straight into ’90s Black culture and nostalgia. The passionate ending screams unfinished business as it keeps fans still pushing for a sequel that may never come.
In “Love Jones,” Nina Mosley (Nia Long) and Darius Lovehall (Larenz Tate) begin dating after meeting at an open-mic night. After a series of breakups and trust issues on both ends, they try to give love another try, despite living in separate states.
Long doesn’t seem eager to revisit their story on screen. Off-screen, though, the two still connect. Fans enjoyed their “Love Jones” inspired holiday commercial for Walmart back in 2024.
Nia Long and Larenz Tate as Nina and Darius in 'Love Jones' (1997). pic.twitter.com/GSepZ4iNWq
— ً (@yakihair) March 5, 2025
They recently reunited again in the Lionsgate biopic, “Michael.” Long plays Michael Jackson’s mother, Katherine Jackson and Tate portrays Jackson’s former manager, Barry Gordy.
At the Los Angeles “Michael” premiere on April 20, an “Entertainment Tonight” host asked Long about another “Love Jones” reunion.
“A sequel to ‘Love Jones,’ I never wanted to honestly,” she confessed. “Because I felt like it was so beautiful as is. And I didn’t want to mess it up I wanted it to stay as a singular piece of art that people love and enjoy to watch.”
Tate was stopped by another media outlet at the same L.A. premiere, who asked about reuniting with Long. He said, “
Larenz Tate on playing Berry Gordy in #Michael and reuniting with his “Love Jones” co-star Nia Long. pic.twitter.com/4VmnhPbNYx
— Variety (@Variety) April 25, 2026
Fans seemed taken aback and shocked by Long’s admission, while others understood where she was coming from in the comments.
One YouTuber said, “Sometimes people got to leave the classic movie alone Love Jones it was and still is great movie.”
Another person who felt similarly typed, “It was perfect with just one.” A third individual who agreed with Long wrote, “She was right! Leave it alone!”
In an April 14 interview with People, Long opened up about her connection to “Love Jones.”
She said, “I felt like Love Jones was such an extension of who I am. My father was a poet; my mother’s an artist. We’re from Brooklyn, but Chicago and New York have some symmetry. I just knew it was honest, and I think when something is honest, it’s good.”
As for Tate, in 2023, he’s open but doesn’t think it will have the same impact. He said he and Long have explored ideas, from a TV show to a film franchise, but it’s hard to “catch lightning in a bottle twice.”
They want to protect what “Love Jones” means and won’t “disrupt” it unless it meets their standards and fans’ expectations.
“We know what those characters meant, and we know what the message and the story meant to us,” Tate stressed. “And we don’t want to disrupt that, we don’t want to shake that up, and do something that doesn’t live up to our expectations of our audience would want from us.”
It appears that what they ended up coming up with is the “Don’t Ever Wonder” movie, which is inspired by singer Maxwell’s “Asencion (Don’t Ever Wonder)” song from his 1996 “Urban Hang Suite” debut album. It’s tells the a story about love and a couple becoming empty nesters after their children go to college.
In her People interview, Long briefly mentioned how the upcoming Netflix film with Tate is a slight nod to “Love Jones.”
“It’s sort of an extension of where Nina and Darius [from Love Jones] could be today, but it’s a completely different film,” she said. “There’s a lot more comedy. We’re parents now. We literally just wrapped a couple of weeks ago. I love Larenz. That’s my guy, forever and ever and ever.”
The film seems to have some excitement around it, being that viewers will get to witness Long and Tate’s screen chemistry again.
The pair will reunite in the Netflix drama, “Don’t Ever Wonder.” It’s far from a sequel to “Love Jones,” but follows a couple navigating love during the empty-nester phase of life.
‘Leave It Alone’: Nia Long Is Not Open to Shooting a ‘Love Jones’ Sequel with Larenz Tate
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