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‘We are so back’: Meg Ryan fans hail return of ‘romcom queen’ as trailer drops for first movie in eight years

Ryan has not appeared in a film since 2015’s ‘Ithaca’

Louis Chilton
Wednesday 30 August 2023 15:19 BST
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What Happens Later trailer

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The first trailer for Meg Ryan’s comeback film What Happens Later has been released online.

The film, a romcom pairing the actor with David Duchovny, is Ryan’s first screen role in eight years.

As well as starring in the project, Ryan also serves as director.

In What Happens Later, Ryan and Duchovny play exes who are brought back together when they become stranded in an airport during a blizzard.

The film is based on the play Shooting Star by Steven Dietz, who co-wrote the film alongside Ryan and playwright Kirk Lynn.

Ryan has not appeared in a film since the 2015 drama Ithaca, which she also directed.

The official synopsis for What Happens Later reads: “Two ex lovers, Bill (Duchovny) and Willa (Ryan) get snowed in at a regional airport overnight.

“Indefinitely delayed, Willa, a magical thinker, and Bill, a catastrophic one, find themselves just as attracted to and annoyed by one another as they did decades earlier. But as they unpack the riddle of their mutual past and compare their lives to the dreams they once shared, they begin to wonder if their reunion is mere coincidence, or something more enchanted.”

Fans shared their enthusiasm for Ryan’s comeback on social media.

Meg Ryan in the trailer for ‘What Happens Later'
Meg Ryan in the trailer for ‘What Happens Later' (Bleecker Street)

“NEW MEG RYAN ROMCOM?????? Oh we are SO back,” wrote one person on Twitter/X.

“I’m sorry, Scorsese. Meg Ryan’s comeback will be the event of October for me. This looks lovely and her magnetic presence is still there,” another person wrote, after watching the trailer.

“Meg Ryan headlined, co-wrote & directed a romcom about her character running into an old flame decades after they broke up and the old flame is NOT Tom Hanks? The nerve on that guy, he had to be asked first, right?” another person joked.

“Oh, well, here for the potential Megaissance. Long overdue.”

Ryan appeared opposite Tom Hanks in films including Sleepless in Seattle and You’ve Got Mail.

What Happens Later is set to be released in US cinemas on 13 October.

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