Meg Ryan returns to rom-com roots in 'What Happens Later': Watch the trailer

Ryan co-wrote and directed the film, which also stars David Duchovny.

August 30, 2023, 11:22 AM

Bleecker Street Films has released the trailer for "What Happens Later," a later-in-life romantic comedy starring, co-written and directed by Meg Ryan.

When a flight delay forces a chance reunion of her character, Willa, with her ex, David Duchovny's Bill, the pair end up reminiscing about their lives prior to and after they broke up as they are snowed in overnight at the airport.

The return to the genre has some winks from Ryan: At one point, Bill charges his phone by casually unplugging a video poster for a movie called "Rom Com."

According to the studio, "Indefinitely delayed, Willa, a magical thinker, and Bill, a catastrophic one, find themselves just as attracted to and annoyed by one another as they did decades earlier."

PHOTO: David Duchovny and Meg Ryan pictured in the film "What Happens Later."
David Duchovny and Meg Ryan pictured in the film "What Happens Later."
Bleecker Street Films

The description continues, "But as they unpack the riddle of their mutual past and compare their lives to the dreams they once shared, they begin to wonder if their reunion is mere coincidence, or something more enchanted."

"You left, you let go," Willa reminisces. "When people break up, there's the thing that they tell each other, and then there's the truth, which you never told me."

Bill counters, "I was in love with you, and I couldn't turn that on and off like a switch."

"I know," she replies.

PHOTO: Meg Ryan pictured in the film "What Happens Later."
Meg Ryan pictured in the film "What Happens Later."
Bleecker Street Films

Passing the time while they're stranded, the pair are seen capering around the empty airport.

They're later seen lying next to each other on the floor. "'Are you happy?' Isn't that the one question we should really be asking each other?" Willa asks Bill.

"I have a good life, but I never again met anyone that made me feel the way you do," he says.

Willa later asks, "Have you ever wondered 'what if?'"

"What Happens Later" arrives in theaters on Oct. 13.