Actor Larenz Tate said he thinks a sequel to “Love Jones‘” is needed in the midst of today’s ongoing gender wars. However, he said it may not be another movie we see as a continuation of the story, but maybe spin-off series.

The “Menace II Society” and “Dead Presidents” star recently visited Birmingham for an “Empower Us” event at the historic 16th Street Baptist Church, where AL.com asked him about the potential to pick up where the popular 1997 film left off.

“It would be hard for us to catch lightning in the bottle twice,” the actor told AL.com. “So Nia [Long] and I have been trying to figure out what that would look like. But we feel like we should do something, but something different. TV show, movies that could be a franchise — we’ve discussed everything. We talked about all kinds of stuff because we know what ‘Love Jones’ meant, we know what those characters meant, and we know what the message and the story meant to us. And we don’t want to disrupt that, we don’t want to shake that up, and do something that doesn’t live up to our expectations of our audience would want from us.”

Tate said his heart goes to the “Love Jones” character, Darius Lovehall, because of what he represents to “Black Love,” a term used by Black Americans to define the strength and unique experience of finding love despite any obstacle.

“He’s smooth, he’s forward thinking, he’s not perfect, but he loves to love,” Tate said, describing one of the favorite characters he’s played on film.

The classic 1997 classic rom-com film written and directed by Theodore Witcher stars Tate and Long as a man and woman who randomly meet at a Chicago club and share an instant connection. The couple bond over music, photography, and poetry, but things shake up when Nina (Long) decides to move to New York to work on her relationship with her ex-fiancé.

The film scored with critics, with a 76% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The Critics Consensus called the film “an endearing romance that puts a fairly fresh perspective on familiar framework, Love Jones is worth falling for.” It has an audience score of 97%, and there remain questions about the potential for a sequel.

“I hope we come up with something sooner than later,” Tate said. “I’m tired of people asking me about ‘Love Jones 2,’ and I just want to go ahead and put that to rest and get into production.”

AL.com asked Tate about other roles he would like to play in future projects, including a possible reprisal of legendary musician Quincy Jones, whom he portrayed in the 2004 film “Ray.”

“He’s at the top of my list,” he said.

He also said he wants to tell the stories of other notable Black Americans who aren’t necessarily entertainers. “We do a lot of biopics of musicians all the time,” he said. “For me, I’d like to do stories about historical figures that we don’t realize have had an impact on us today. If I can be a part of telling that story as an actor or producer, I would love that opportunity.”

Tate gained popularity for his performances in 1990s films like “Menace II Society,” “The Inkwell,” “Dead Presidents” and “Why Do Fools Fall in Love.” He’s also appeared in various Hollywood productions like “Biker Boyz,” “A Man Apart” and Oscar-winning films like “Crash” and “Ray.” Tate also has several television credits including “Rescue Me,” “Justified,” “The Mindy Project,” “House of Lies” and the “Power” franchise.

Tate currently stars on the series “Power Book II: Ghost,” a sequel and spin-off to the popular Starz show “Power,” where he plays Councilman Rashad Tate, Ghost’s former political rival and an ethics professor at Stansfield.

Watch the trailer for “Love Jones” below.