Sleepless Nights 2 Aims for an April or May 2027 Shoot

The sequel to Sleepless Nights, the 2003 Egyptian relationship drama, is targeting a shoot in April or May 2027. Variety reported the timing on Wednesday, 21 October 2026.

The new film will squeeze its story into two days. It will focus on relationships among Gen Z, the generation born in the late 1990s and 2000s, while keeping links to characters from the original. Filming is planned for Cairo and other Egyptian locations that have not yet been named.

Two companies are producing it together. Cairo Films and Al Arabia Cinema International are the partners. Al Arabia also owns the rights to the Sleepless Nights story, known in the trade as its intellectual property, and will distribute the sequel.

Tamer Habib, who wrote the original, has finished a first draft of the screenplay and is working on a second. Karim El Shenawy has been picked to direct. Cairo Films chief executive Wesam Seif Elislam suggested him, Variety said.

Habib has explained the 23-year gap. He said he turned down suggestions for a sequel for more than two decades, and agreed only after considering how marriage and relationships have changed in Egypt. In September he told Roya News that he had met El Shenawy and that the two had agreed on some of the outlines for the story.

No cast has been announced. The team has not said whether any original cast members will return. Until a casting call or deal is made public, the lead names remain open.

For fans of the first film, the news is mostly about timing. A 2027 start means the sequel is still early in its development, and the April or May target is a plan rather than a fixed date. The next public markers will be the second draft, the casting, and the confirmed shooting locations.