It would be a crime against humanity to make a sequel (or prequel) to The Graduate, with or without the participation of the surviving actors.
My flippant answer to "HOW Ben and Elaine coped with each other, in later life" is: POORLY . . . . . as you would expect from two young people (growing up in the turbulent 60's) who barely knew each other and were using the escape-hatch of their flight-from-the-church as a bad way of dealing with other issues/uncertainties in their lives.
But the deeper answer to "HOW Ben and Elaine coped with each other, in later life" is: however you, the audience, imagine they coped with each other. That's why Buck Henry & Mike Nichols had the ambiguous ending you see in the film: the smiles & jubilation that quickly dissolve (as they settle in to the back of the bus) tells you that they're beginning to wonder "What have I gotten myself into now?" The concept of a "reader-ly text" relies on ambiguity to leave blank spaces for the audience to fill in (with their imaginations) and therefore participate in the making of the movie.
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