What Happens Later: release date, reviews, trailer, cast and everything we know about the rom-com (2025)

One of the all-time great rom-com stars has a new entry to add to her resume, as Meg Ryan stars and directs the new movie What Happens Later. Can this join the ranks of her rom-com classics like When Harry Met Sally, You've Got Mail and Sleepless in Seattle?

We have everything that you need to know about What Happens Later, including its release plans, plot, who's in it and more.

What Happens Later release date

What Happens Later is now playing exclusively in US movie theaters. It is among the November 3 new releases with American Fiction and The Marsh King's Daughter. Find out where What Happens Later is playing near you by visiting Fandango.

At this time, there is no information on if/when the movie is going to release in the UK.

What Happens Later plot

Here is the official synopsis for What Happens Later:

"Two ex-lovers, Bill and Willa, get snowed in at a regional airport overnight. Indefinitely delayed, Willa, a magical thinker, and Bill, a catastrophic one, find themselves just as attracted to and annoyed by one another as they did decades earlier. But as they unpack the riddle of their mutual past and compare their lives to the dreams they once shared, they begin to wonder if their reunion is mere coincidence, or something more enchanted."

The original script was written by Steven Dietz, Kirk Lynn and Meg Ryan.

What Happens Later cast

Meg Ryan headlines the movie as Willa. Though she is best known for her roles in a number of classic romantic comedies (in addition to the ones we mentioned above, she also starred in Joe Versus the Volcano and Kate & Leopold), Ryan got her start on the soap As the World Turns and in a supporting role in Top Gun. She also starred in The Doors, Courage Under Fire and Anastasia. She's been seen less frequently in recent years, with her last on-screen role coming in the war drama Ithaca in 2015.

Playing opposite Ryan as Bill is David Duchovny. Best known for playing Agent Mulder on The X-Files, Duchovny's list of credits also includes Twin Peaks, Red Shoe Diaries, Zoolander and Californication. More recently he has starred in The Bubble, You People and History of the World Part II.

What Happens Later trailer

What kind of hijinks can you get into when you're stuck in an airport with your ex-boyfriend? We'll find out in more detail when the movie is released, but in the meantime, the What Happens Later trailer offers a fun peek at things:

What Happens Later reviews

As of its release on November 3, What Happens Later has a "Fresh" Rotten Tomatoes score of 61%.

What Happens Later director

Meg Ryan is pulling the triple threat with What Happens Later, as in addition to starring and helping to write the screenplay, she is also serving as the director. This is Ryan's second directing effort, following Ithaca. That was a war drama, so it’ll be interesting to see Ryan work in the rom-com genre, which she is very familiar with.

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