‘It’s the Weirdest Story’ — U2’s The Edge Apparently Wanted Elf 2 to Happen So Badly That He Wrote His Own Script

U2 guitarist The Edge apparently had such a good idea for Elf 2 that he went out of his way to write his own script.

That’s according to Elf actor and Dancing with the Stars legend Andy Richter, who spilled the beans about the musician’s fondness for Christmas during an episode of The Daily Beast’s Obsessed podcast. It’s a pairing no one ever saw coming but one that apparently still happened – or at least it almost happened.

Richter said the story of The Edge (real name: David Howell Evans) and his secret Elf 2 script comes from producer and frequent Will Ferrell collaborator Shauna Robertson. When exactly the elusive script would have been written is unclear.

“She was in Europe, and somebody reached out to her and said, ‘The Edge from U2 has written a sequel to Elf, and he wants to talk to you about it.’ It’s the weirdest story, but apparently, it was fully written,” Richter recalled. “Somewhere in the world, there is an Edge-penned Elf 2 out there, which I would love for that to make the light of day.”

If you’re unfamiliar with the guitarist or the group he’s helped define for the last 50 years, U2 is the Irish rock band behind megahits like With Or Without You, I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For, Sunday Bloody Sunday, Where The Streets Have No Name, and more. He’s a legendary guitar player behind a long list of instantly recognizable songs, and by comparison he’s got little to no experience in the movie world.

A proper, fully written film script for Elf of all things marks a trip through mostly uncharted territory for The Edge. Unfortunately, it doesn’t sound like his words will ever jump off the page and onto screens, and it’s unclear if we’ll ever get to read the supposed story for ourselves.

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“It never happened,” Richter continued. “It’s just one of those things where she’s like, ‘All right, sure. I’ll meet him,’ you know? And then it just petered out and never, never happened.”

Richter said he’s on the side of Christmas fans who say “let it be.” Directed by Jon Favreau and starring Ferrell, Elf is a holiday phenomenon which has yet to be matched in terms of sheer popularity, and that’s probably why we may never see a sequel made. The Buddy the Elf star himself told IGN in 2016 that he never found the idea of following up the early 2000s classic with a full-on sequel.

“Now that that time has passed, I think that the movie has become so special that I think that people – and I think rightfully so – loathe to mess with it. Because we all can think of movies that have been tarnished by their sequels. This is so special and so perfect, and so beloved; why risk it?”

As far as what’s been officially announced, Elf 2 is not in the works. While we wait to see if The Edge will change that, you can read what Ferrell had to say about the relationship he had with the late James Caan while filming the Christmas classic.

Photo by ELVIS BARUKCIC / AFP via Getty Images.

Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He’s best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).