Bailee Madison and Deon Cole are set to join the ensemble cast of Grown Ups 3, giving Netflix’s next Adam Sandler comedy two new names as the third film moves ahead.
The addition matters because the project is already loaded with returning stars. Adam Sandler, David Spade, Rob Schneider, Chris Rock, Kevin James and Salma Hayek are set to come back, while Netflix announced this past May that Kyle Newacheck would direct the film. Sandler and Tim Herlihy wrote the script, and Adam Sandler, Jackie Sandler, Jack Giarraputo and Tim Herlihy are producing, with Kevin Grady and Judit Maull executive producing.
For Madison, the role puts her back in Sandler’s orbit after Roommates and Just Go With It, two films she made early in her career. She later became known for Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin and first drew widespread attention with Bridge to Terabithia. Cole brings a different kind of familiarity for Netflix, where he is known for Ok, Mister, Charleen’s Boy and Cole Hearted, and he recently starred in The Madness opposite Colman Domingo after leading Average Joe for BET+.
The one detail the movie is still holding back is the one audiences usually want first. Plot details for the third film are unknown, so Madison and Cole’s characters have not been revealed. That leaves the news as a casting move rather than a story tease, even as the franchise keeps building around a familiar ensemble and a director already attached.
The Grown Ups franchise has always been built on old friends dragged back together as adults, and this new film is following that same lane without yet saying how this chapter fits the pattern. One clue about Netflix’s confidence came from Happy Gilmore 2, which set a Nielsen record with 2.89B minutes viewed in its first week. For now, the clearest next step is the one Netflix has already chosen to make public: the cast is growing, even if the plot is not.
