Who Framed Roger Rabbit is one of the best and strangest films in the Disney back catalogue, and its director Robert Zemeckis has lifted the lid on why there’s no sequel.

Here’s the stinger: there’s even a great script floating around Hollywood for this much-requested follow-up.

“There’s a good script sitting at Disney, but here’s the thing… the current Disney would never make Roger Rabbit today,” Robert Zebecks told the Happy Sad Confused podcast.

“They can’t make a movie with Jessica in it.”

Before you jump on the trend of blaming “woke,” remember this is a pretty long-standing dilemma. Fans have been asking for a sequel for decades — Who Framed Roger Rabbit is now coming up for 40 years old. And Disney's conservatism is nothing new.

“Look what they did to Jessica at the theme park,” Zemeckis said. “They trussed her up in a trench coat.”

He’s referring to the Roger Rabbit Car Toon Spin ride in California’s Disneyland. The Jessica Rabbit character was seen in the “trunk” of a car, in her iconic dress, before being replaced by a standing version of her in a detective’s jacket in 2021.

There were originally plans for a sequel to the film shortly after its release in 1988. While revered as almost a cult classic these days, Who Framed Roger Rabbit was a huge success in cinemas, raking in $329 million — equivalent to around $877 million in 2024 dollars.

Zemeckis worked for a time on a project provisionally titled Roger Rabbit: The Toon Platoon. It would be set in World War 2, and see Roger Rabbit and co. rescue Jessica from the Nazis, who had captured her and were using her to make propaganda.

On the Happy Sad Confused podcast Zemeckis claimed his approach to the film was closer to that of Walt Disney’s own style, of not pandering to young children with watered down takes and themes.

“One time we did a test preview with just moms and kids. I was terrified because these kids were like 5, 6 years old,” said Zemeckis. “They absolutely were riveted to the movie. And I realised the thing is, kids get everything. They understand… I think the thing that Walt Disney never did was he never talked down to the children in his movies. He treated the kids like they were adults.”

Zemeckis is currently promoting his latest movie, Here, a drama starring Tom Hanks. Despite the involvement of plenty of big names, it made just $5 million at its opening weekend in cinemas.

• The best Disney Plus movies you need to be streaming