Bella Thorne Is Writing and Directing ‘SPRING BREAKERS 2 and Promises It’s “Lit as F**k”

Bella Thorne has revealed that she will write, direct, and star in the upcoming sequel to Spring Breakers, the cult 2012 crime film originally directed by Harmony Korine. That’s a pretty major change for the project, which previously had Freeway filmmaker Matthew Bright attached to direct.

The sequel was first announced in May 2025 with Thorne leading a new cast that includes Grace Van Dien (Stranger Things), Ariel Martin (Zombies 2), and True Whitaker (I Love L.A.).

Now it turns out Thorne’s involvement has expanded considerably, and she sounds like she’s having a hell of a time putting the movie together.

During an appearance on Alex Cooper’s Call Her Daddy podcast, Thorne explained that the producers got a look at an early cut of her feature directorial debut, Color Your Hurt, and liked what they saw enough to ask her to take a crack at writing something for Spring Breakers 2.

“The producers watched Color Your Hurt, which is the movie that I just wrapped, an early cut of it. And they asked me to write something to see if they would like it, and they loved it! And now I’m writing and directing Spring Breakers 2.”

Color Your Hurt marks Thorne’s feature directorial debut and is described as a coming-of-age thriller centered on a young gay man searching for acceptance while living in a hostile community.

Production on the film wrapped in October, and it appears the early footage was enough to convince the Spring Breakers producers that Thorne should have the keys to their sequel.

That makes this version of Spring Breakers 2 especially interesting because Thorne isn’t simply stepping into Korine’s world and trying to recreate what worked the first time. She’s approaching the material from the perspective of someone who actually lived through the pop culture environment surrounding the original movie.

Looking back at 2012, Thorne described it as “such an exploitative time and everyone was going through it.” She recalled how she and other young Disney stars, including Miley Cyrus, Zendaya, and Selena Gomez, were constantly being measured against each other over who might become the entertainment industry’s next rebellious former child star.

Gomez, of course, starred in the original Spring Breakers alongside Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Benson, and James Franco. The movie followed four college students whose spring break adventure spirals into drugs, crime, guns, and increasingly surreal chaos after they cross paths with Franco’s memorably unhinged gangster Alien.

Thorne isn’t looking to repeat the same cultural moment with her sequel. “This time, things are different,” Thorne said. “They are crazy. There’s a lot of craziness, there’s a lot of litness. There is so much litness in this movie.”

If you were wondering how much “litness” Spring Breakers 2 can realistically contain, Thorne has apparently decided the answer is all of it.

The sequel will retain some DNA from the original production team. Chris Hanley of Muse Productions, whose credits include American Psycho and The Virgin Suicides, is involved alongside Jordan Gertner, who previously worked on Bully.

Korine, however, isn’t participating in the new movie. The original filmmaker has previously made his position pretty clear, saying he has “no interest” in the sequel.

So Thorne gets to chart her own path, and judging by the way she’s describing the movie, subtle restraint probably isn’t high on the priority list.

“I don’t want to get in trouble, but what I can say is it is so litty, litty McTitties,” Thorne teased. “From start to finish, it’s lit as f*ck. We are having fun. If you want to go to the theater and have fun, you’re going to have fun with this movie, that’s for sure.”

Well, there you have it. Spring Breakers 2 has officially entered the “litty McTitties” stage of production.

Trying to imitate Korine’s original movie would probably be the least interesting direction to take the sequel. Spring Breakers was tied closely to a very specific moment in pop culture, celebrity, social media, and the public fascination with young stars shedding their squeaky-clean images. More than a decade later, that culture has changed considerably.

Thorne seems interested in tapping into the insanity of the current era rather than attempting to manufacture another 2012, and that could give the sequel a reason to exist beyond simply resurrecting a recognizable title.

Whether audiences are ready for the amount of “litness” Thorne is promising remains to be seen, but she certainly knows what kind of experience she wants to make.

Spring Breakers 2 is being positioned as a wild theatrical party, and with Thorne now writing, directing, and starring, this thing is very much becoming her movie.