The Bonds That Outlast the Credits: Malcolm D. Lee Pens the Next Chapter of The Best Man

By Kyra Greene

After decades of on-screen love, heartbreak, brotherhood, and reinvention, the beloved characters from The Best Man franchise are trading celluloid for the page. Storehouse Voices, an imprint under the Crown Publishing Group (Penguin Random House LLC), has announced the forthcoming release of The Best Man: Unfinished Business, a debut novel by acclaimed filmmaker Malcolm D. Lee, co-written with bestselling author Jayne Allen. The first in a planned trilogy, the book will hit shelves on July 1, 2025, in paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats.

Far from a nostalgic reprise, Unfinished Business picks up where Peacock’s critically lauded limited series The Best Man: The Final Chapters left off—only now, it dives deeper, peeling back the layers of Harper, Jordan, and Robyn as they navigate the fractured terrain of parenthood, purpose, and emotional rebirth in midlife. It’s a story not just about where these characters are headed, but about how they carry the history of who they were—how some ties bind tighter than we ever planned.

Malcolm D. Lee, whose 1999 directorial debut launched The Best Man into instant cult status, has long been celebrated for his ability to craft worlds that feel both intimate and communal. With characters that became cultural touchstones—Harper Stewart, the conflicted writer; Lance Sullivan, the faithful friend wrestling with grief; Quentin Spivey, the charismatic wildcard with hidden depths—Lee didn’t just make a movie. He made a mirror for a generation.

The film’s legacy continued with 2013’s The Best Man Holiday, a poignant sequel that explored love and loss through a maturing lens, and most recently, the 2022 Peacock series that ushered these beloved characters into the streaming era—and into new emotional territory. The show broke ground for the platform, landing on Nielsen’s Top 10 and proving that audiences weren’t finished with this circle of friends. In fact, they were just getting started.

“Writing this novel series around my most beloved cinematic characters has been an incredible journey,” Lee says. “Over 25 years, we’ve watched them grow. I thought their stories had concluded with The Final Chapters, but they kept whispering more to me. This book is a new beginning.”

Partnering with Jayne Allen—author of the Black Girls Must Die Exhausted series—was a natural evolution. Together, they are crafting stories that are emotionally resonant, culturally specific, and fiercely human. The Best Man: Unfinished Business explores what happens after the curtain falls, when the applause fades, and life keeps unfolding.

Slated as the first installment in a three-book arc, each volume will stand on its own while continuing the journey of this tightly woven ensemble. For longtime fans, it’s a chance to re-engage with familiar faces in unfamiliar ways. For new readers, it’s an entry into a world that’s as magnetic on the page as it ever was on screen.

The Best Man: Unfinished Business is available now for pre-order wherever books are sold. The sequel arrives in 2026, promising more emotional excavation, more growth, and more of the soul-deep storytelling that made this franchise unforgettable.

Because some stories don’t end. They just find a new form.