The Greatest Showman was a film that took a great many liberties with its historical subject matter in the interest of telling an awesome story. While some critics accused the film in engaging in revisionist history — Barnum was a pretty complicated man, and some of his attitudes towards his performers and his public were very much of their time — we submit that a Hollywood musical biopic should not necessarily be expected to be a stickler for historical accuracy. The picture was simply a fun time at the movies, and the fact that it plays fast and loose with its subject matter could very well end up working out in the sequel's favor.

This is because, to an extent, The Greatest Showman 2 could take any narrative direction the filmmakers desire. Like Jackman alluded to, its focus could be on secondary characters or even new ones not featured in the first film; rather than putting the spotlight squarely on Barnum, the movie could instead examine the people he influenced and the lives he touched, whether real or fictional.

Failing that, The Greatest Showman 2 could take a look at Barnum's later years, during which he leveraged his well-documented experience as a hoaxster in order to debunk fraudulent "entertainers" such as mediums and spiritualists, whom he felt took undue advantage of the public by exploiting their desire to communicate with lost loved ones. (He also served two terms in the Connecticut legislature, but somehow, the idea of Jackman belting out a lively tune in support of a budget bill's passage doesn't seem like it would make for scintillating cinema.)

There are a lot of different narrative avenues that The Greatest Showman 2 could take, but for now, we'll have to wait until the film is a little further down the road in its development before we have an idea as to what we can expect from its story.