Tom Hanks Says 'Thank God We Never Bothered Trying to Make' a “Forrest Gump” Sequel: 'Why Put a Hat on a Hat?'

The Academy Award winner is glad the film "stands completely on its own"

Tom Hanks is content to let Forrest Gump stand on its own.

The two-time Academy Award winning actor has reteamed with Forrest Gump costar Robin Wright and director Robert Zemeckis for the new film Here. But while both Wright and Hanks told the New York Times this week that they have massive affection for the 1994 film, Hanks said he’s glad they never tried to revisit his iconic character

“It is this extraordinary amalgam that stands completely on its own and never has to be repeated,” he said of Forrest Gump. “And thank God we never bothered trying to make another one. Why put a hat on a hat?”

Related: Robin Wright Says She and Tom Hanks Didn't Hang Out on Forrest Gump Set Because He Was Always 'Out Running'

Despite Hanks’ words, there apparently were at least a couple attempts to get a sequel off the ground.

Following the success of Forrest Gump, author Winston Groom, on whose 1986 novel the film was based, published a 1995 sequel. Gump & Co. finds the character trying to support his son following the failure of his Bubba Gump Shrimp Company, while also being haunted by the ghost of Jenny (played by Wright in the film). The novel also features sly references to Zemeckis’ film, including Forrest and Forrest Jr. meeting a young Tom Hanks on the set of Big and the character’s life being made into a movie.

The original film’s screenwriter Eric Roth reportedly worked on an adaptation of Gump & Co., but as he told /Film in 2008, world events got in the way.

Related: Is Forrest Gump Based on a True Story? All About the Real-Life People Who Inspired the Tom Hanks Classic

“I turned in the script the night before 9/11,” Roth said. “And we sat down, Tom [Hanks] and Bob [Zemeckis] and I, looked at each other and said, we don’t think this is relevant anymore. The world had changed. Now time has obviously passed, but maybe some things should just be one thing and left as they are.”

In 2007, however, Cinema Blend reported that the 1994 film’s producers Steve Tisch and Wendy Finerman were interested in reviving the sequel.

But as recently as 2022, Hanks suggested a second film wasn’t in the cards.

“We did take a stab at talking about another Forrest Gump that lasted all of 40 minutes,” he said in an interview on the Happy Sad Confused podcast. “And then we never… we said, ‘Guys, come on.’ ”

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Still, Hanks told the Times this week that he appreciates the original film’s place in people’s lives.

“I still get letters all the time saying, every year the family gets together, we do what we did back in 1995, when it first came out on home video. We all watch it, from beginning to end,” he said. “Right now, someone is watching that movie from beginning to end somewhere in the world. And it’s landing with that same sense of comfort and familiarity.”