While it has been speculated for months, Deadline can confirm that Arsenio Hall has officially closed his deal to reprise his role as Semmi, the best friend and trusted aide to Eddie Murphy’s Prince Akeem, in Paramount’s Coming To America 2, which Craig Brewer is directing based on a screenplay from Black-ish creator Kenya Barris.

Murphy will return as the pampered prince of Zamunda, who, in the 1988 original, became bored of potential marriage partners in a kingdom and who traveled to Queens New York to go undercover and find a strong-willed woman he could respect.

In the sequel, Akeem learns about a long-lost son and must return to America to meet the unlikely heir to the throne of Zamunda.

Murphy is producing the pic with Kevin Misher, while Barris will serve as executive producers. A theatrical release is planned for December 2020.

Hall, who hosted The Arsenio Hall Show from 1989 to 1994 and again from 2013 – 2014, is repped by ICM