21 August,2026 04:21 PM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
Jaafar Jackson in Michael. pic via X
The story of Michael Jackson's life is far from over on the big screen. With the second instalment of the Michael biopic moving closer to production, Jaafar Jackson, who plays his late uncle, has hinted that the sequel will venture into one of the most controversial periods of the pop icon's life.
The first film focused on Jackson's rise to fame and ended with the release of his 1987 album Bad. The sequel is expected to move into the 1990s, when the singer faced child abuse allegations that became a defining part of public discussion around his life and career.
Speaking to GQ Middle East, Jaafar acknowledged that he has limited control over the screenplay but expressed hope that the next chapter will allow audiences to understand Michael's side of the story.
"It's someone else's story," Jaafar said while discussing the film. He explained that the family's concern has been that Michael's own perspective has not always been given enough space when his life is portrayed. For Jaafar, that becomes particularly important when the story reaches Michael's later years.
The first Michael movie, which became a major box-office success after crossing the USD 1 billion mark globally, concentrated on the singer's formative years and his transformation into one of music's biggest stars. By stopping before the allegations emerged in 1993, the film left some of the most difficult chapters of Jackson's life for the follow-up.
Jaafar believes the two-part approach gives the filmmakers room to explore what happened without reducing Michael to the controversies surrounding him.
Jaafar also stressed that understanding Michael as a person is key to making sense of the later stages of his life. According to him, the first film establishes who Jackson was before worldwide fame changed the scale of his life. He described his uncle as someone who retained his kindness despite the experiences he went through and the intense scrutiny that followed him.
"He never stopped treating people with kindness. He never stopped believing in and wanting to look for the good in people," Jaafar said.
The actor hopes that quality will remain central to the sequel as it explores the years in which Jackson faced intense media attention, allegations and public controversy.
While details about the second film's plot remain under wraps, its subject matter is likely to make it a considerably more challenging chapter than the first. The sequel will have to navigate Jackson's extraordinary career alongside allegations that continue to shape conversations about his legacy.
For Jaafar, however, the goal appears to be giving audiences a more complete picture of the man behind the superstar. "I hope that this is felt in the second movie," he said.
