Meg Ryan to Direct & Star in “What Happens Later,” Bleecker Street Lands Rights to the Rom-Com

Meg Ryan is set to direct her second feature and returning to the genre she’s best known for. The “Sleepless in Seattle” and “When Harry Met Sally…” actress will star in and helm “What Happens Later,” per Variety. Described as an “evolved and nostalgic” take on the romantic comedy, the pic is slated for a 2023 theatrical release from Bleecker Street.

“What Happens Later” follows ex-lovers Willa (Ryan) and Bill (David Duchovny), “who are reunited for the first time since their split decades prior when they both find themselves snowed in, in-transit, at an airport overnight. Willa is still the willful, independent spirit she once was, free of any ties, while the recently separated Bill is reassessing his life and his relationships with his estranged wife and daughter,” the source teases. “All each of them wants is to get home but over the course of the night they find themselves at first reluctantly drawn together yet compelled to revisit their past, along with what could have been and what might well be again. But when the versions of their shared history don’t quite add up, where do they go from there?”

Production is scheduled to kick off later this year.

Bleecker Street CEO Andrew Karpen emphasized that the company is “beyond fortunate that the project is in the hands of one of the most gifted romantic comedy actors of her generation.”

Ryan made her directorial debut with 2015’s “Ithaca,” a coming-of-age drama set during WWII. She had a supporting role in the film.

A trailer just landed for another actress’ sophomore directorial effort, Olivia Wilde’s “Don’t Worry Darling.” Florence Pugh stars in the thriller, which marks Wilde’s follow-up to “Booksmart.”