Cinema · 24 September 2026

Jean Smart Joins The Families Stone as Christmas Favourite Gets a Sequel

Jean Smart has joined The Families Stone, the upcoming sequel to 2005 Christmas comedy-drama The Family Stone, and we now know exactly how her character enters the returning family’s story.

The Hacks star joins an extensive reunion of the original cast, including Sarah Jessica Parker, Rachel McAdams, Claire Danes, Dermot Mulroney, Craig T. Nelson and Luke Wilson.

The sequel is officially titled The Families Stone and is being made by Searchlight Pictures, with original writer and director Thomas Bezucha returning.

Who is Jean Smart playing in The Families Stone?

Searchlight’s official story description provides the key to Smart’s role.

Twenty years after the death of their mother, the Stone family reunites for Christmas. This time, their father Kelly has a surprise for everyone: he has fallen in love again and has invited the new woman in his life to meet the family.

That woman will be played by Smart.

It immediately gives the sequel a familiar Family Stone setup.

The original film revolved around an outsider entering an extremely close and occasionally overwhelming family Christmas. More than two decades later, the sequel appears ready to put another newcomer into the middle of the Stone household.

Production is expected to begin in New York this autumn. A release date has not yet been announced.

Almost the entire original cast is returning

The returning line-up is unusually extensive for a sequel arriving more than 20 years after the original.

Sarah Jessica Parker returns as Meredith Morton, Rachel McAdams as Amy Stone, Claire Danes as Julie Morton, Dermot Mulroney as Everett Stone, Craig T. Nelson as Kelly Stone and Luke Wilson as Ben Stone.

Elizabeth Reaser returns as Susannah, Paul Schneider as Brad Stevenson, Tyrone Giordano as Thad Stone and Brian White as Patrick Thomas.

That also means the sequel retains one of the original film’s LGBT relationships.

Thad, played by Giordano, is the Stone family’s gay and deaf son, while White plays his partner Patrick. Their relationship and the family’s acceptance of them formed part of one of the original film’s most memorable dinner scenes.

Exactly where Thad and Patrick are in their lives two decades later has not yet been revealed.

The story will acknowledge Diane Keaton’s absence

One member of the original Stone family who cannot return is Diane Keaton, who played family matriarch Sybil.

The sequel is specifically set two decades after Sybil’s death, meaning her absence forms part of the story rather than being ignored.

Bezucha has previously spoken about the importance of that absence to the new film, with the sequel bringing the surviving family back together for another Christmas.

The original Family Stone mixed broad Christmas comedy with grief, illness, family conflict and changing relationships, which helped it develop a following well beyond its initial cinema release.

Jean Smart joins another formidable ensemble

Smart arrives in the film following another acclaimed run as comedian Deborah Vance in Hacks.

Her addition gives The Families Stone a new character capable of disrupting an ensemble whose relationships audiences already know.

The role also places her opposite Craig T. Nelson as Kelly, with the central Christmas surprise built around his decision to introduce his new partner to his children.

That does not necessarily mean the new film will simply recreate the original’s story. Searchlight has so far released only the central premise, with further plot details being kept under wraps.

When will The Families Stone be released?

There is currently no confirmed cinema release date for The Families Stone.

The production is expected to begin principal photography in New York this autumn, so the project is moving beyond the development stage.

What is confirmed is an unusually complete reunion.

More than 20 years after The Family Stone first brought the Stones together for an extremely complicated Christmas, Jean Smart and The Families Stone are preparing to send everyone back home for another one.