‘Harold & Kumar’ 4 moves forward with Cho, Penn expected to return

More than 20 years after “Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle” launched a studio comedy franchise led by two Asian American actors, a fourth film is moving ahead at the screenplay stage with its core creative team returning. While attending the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in the Czech Republic, producer Greg Shapiro told Variety that the franchise’s actors and writers are coming back.

While he did not identify the returning performers by name, John Cho and Kal Penn are expected to reprise Harold Lee and Kumar Patel in what would be the series’ first film since “A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas” was released in 2011.

Franchise creators Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg are writing and directing the fourth installment. The pair wrote all three previous films and directed the 2008 sequel “Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay.” Danny Leiner directed “Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle” while Todd Strauss-Schulson directed “A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas.”

Shapiro shared that the filmmakers hope to begin shooting soon but cautioned that the project still needs to come together before production can start. The project has yet to receive a production timetable, official title, release window or plot synopsis. There is currently no indication whether recurring cast members including Neil Patrick Harris, Paula Garcés, Anthony Anderson or Danny Trejo will return.

Released in 2004, “Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle” followed Korean American investment banker Harold Lee and Indian American medical school candidate Kumar Patel during an overnight trip to satisfy their craving for White Castle hamburgers. Their search led to encounters with police, racist aggressors and an exaggerated fictional version of Harris.

The film stood apart from many mainstream studio comedies of its era by placing two Asian American friends at the center of the story rather than in supporting roles. Harold and Kumar’s racial identities informed several of the film’s jokes and conflicts, but the story was also driven by their friendship, romantic interests, professional frustrations and marijuana-fueled misadventures.

Looking back on the franchise in a 2022 interview, Cho said its approach to race helped distinguish it from other films of the time. “Its posture towards race is to laugh at it. Instead of elevating it, it took the stereotypes and turned the sock inside out,” he said. “Looking back, I think we were ahead of our time a little bit.”

Penn offered a similar update earlier this year during an appearance on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!,” saying that he had already walked through the story outline. “They’re writing it right now. Yeah, I’ve seen the outline. They walked me through the outline,” Penn said. “I hope we get to make this thing. It’s very, very fun.”

Cho and Penn have reunited publicly since the third film, including at a SAG-AFTRA strike rally in Los Angeles in 2023, but they have not appeared together in another “Harold & Kumar” feature. Their participation in the fourth installment remains expected rather than individually confirmed as development continues.