Queen's Brian May rules out Bohemian Rhapsody sequel

Roger Taylor and Brian May with Ben Hardy, Rami Malek, Gwilym Lee and Joe Mazzello at the Bohemian Rhapsody premiere
Roger Taylor and Brian May with Ben Hardy, Rami Malek, Gwilym Lee and Joe Mazzello at the Bohemian Rhapsody premiere (Image credit: Wiktor Szymanowicz / Barcroft Media - Getty)

In March last year, director Rudi Dolezal who worked with Queen on videos for tracks including These Are the Days Of Our LivesThe Show Must Go On and Innuendo, reported that manager Jim Beach was considering a sequel to the award-winning Bohemian Rhapsody movie.

He told Page Six: “I’m sure he plans a sequel that starts with Live Aid,” adding that follow-up film was “being heavily discussed in the Queen family."

Now, in an interview with Rolling Stone, Queen guitarist Brian May says a sequel is unlikely to happen.

May says: “Don’t think we didn’t think about it. We’ve talked. Basically we think not at the moment. Things could change, I suppose, but I think it would be difficult.”

May adds: "There are other ideas that we had, but I don’t think a sequel will happen. But we have looked at it pretty seriously.”

In December last year, actor Ben Hardy who portrayed drummer Roger Taylor in the movie told NME that while he would love to work with the cast again, his only knowledge of a sequel was through the rumour mill. 

He added: “The film goes up to 1985 so you’ve got another six years there you can tell. It could be a very different movie.”

Bohemian Rhapsody is the biggest music biopic of all time and has scooped four Oscarstwo Golden Globes and two BAFTAS.

Last week, Queen and Adam Lambert released the charity single You Are The Champions to raise money for the World Health Organisation's COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund.

Scott Munro
Louder e-commerce editor

Scott has spent more than 30 years in newspapers, magazines and online as an editor, production editor, sub-editor, designer, writer and reviewer. Scott joined our news desk in the summer of 2014 before moving to the e-commerce team in 2020. Scott maintains Louder’s buyer’s guides, scouts out the best deals for music fans and reviews headphones, speakers, books and more. He's written more than 11,000 articles across Louder, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog and has previous written for publications including IGN, the Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and The Herald, covering everything from daily news and weekly features, to video games, travel and whisky. Scott's favourite bands are Fields Of The Nephilim, The Cure, New Model Army, All About Eve, The Mission, Cocteau Twins, Drab Majesty, Marillion and Rush.