TV Article Familiar faces arrive in The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel trailer By C. Molly Smith C. Molly Smith C. Molly Smith is the former assistant editorial manager at Entertainment Weekly. She left EW in 2019. EW's editorial guidelines Published on August 7, 2014 12:00PM EDT The first trailer for The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel is out, and it's ready to charm. The film is directed by John Madden and written by Ol Parker, who both worked on 2011's The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, a surprise hit. This marks the first sequel ever for Fox Searchlight. The followup has Sonny (Dev Patel) and Muriel (Maggie Smith) as co-managers of the hotel. It will see the return of familiar faces—Judi Dench, Bill Nighy, Celia Imrie, Ronald Pickup, Penelope Wilton, Diana Hardcastle, Tena Desae, and Lillete Dubey—and the arrival of new ones, too, including Richard Gere, David Strathairn, and Tamsin Greig. In the trailer, Sonny and Muriel discuss the hotel's condition, and there's a, err, warm welcome for one of its new arrivals, Guy (Gere). The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel hits theaters March 6, 2015.