The prophecy has been fulfilled. In 1987’s Spaceballs, Mel Brooks’ Yogurt told the heroic Lone Starr “God willing, we’ll all meet again in Spaceballs 2: The Search for More Money.”
So when Brooks himself tweeted “I told you we’d be back” along with a video confirming a new Spaceballs sequel, he wasn’t joking. He really had promised it almost 40 years ago.
You can watch the announcement video Brooks shared below, which jokingly lists all of the many Star Wars and other franchise sequels that have appeared in the four decades since Brooks playfully spoofed the Star Wars saga and the ever-present blockbuster mindset in late -’80s Hollywood. Then it promises that “The Schwartz Awakens in 2027.”
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After spoofing westerns, horror films, and silent movies, Brooks turned his attention to Star Wars in the mid-1980s, when the furor about the original trilogy of films was at its apex. The film starred Bill Pullman as a mercenary who reluctantly agrees to rescue a beautiful princess (Daphe Zuniga) to pay off a debt to gangster Pizza the Hutt (Dom DeLuise). Brooks played the Yoda stand-in Yogurt, as well as the de facto Emperor of the project, President Skroob. So I guess you could say … somehow Skroob returned.
It should be noted this is not the first time Brooks has talked about making a Spaceballs sequel. The ScreenCrush archive includes an article about the project back in 2015 — and another from 2017. Brooks did previously release an animated Spaceballs TV series in 2008; he reprised his role as Yogurt and Skroob, while Zuniga, Joan Rivers, and DeLuise all returned to play Vespa, Dot, and Pizza the Hutt, respectively. The show lasted for just one season of 13 episodes.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar’s Josh Greenbaum is directing the film, from a script written by Benji Samit, Dan Hernandez, and Josh Gad. The 99-year-old Brooks will play Yogurt, and produce the film along with Gad. There’s no word yet on whether Gad will appear in the film — nor was there any word on other cast members returning for the sequel.
Some of the original Spaceballs’ cast, like Rivers and John Candy, have since passed away; Rick Moranis, who played Spaceballs’ Darth Vader-esque villain Dark Helmet retired from acting for decades and only tentatively returned a few years ago. To date, he’s barely appeared in anything — although one of the projects he agreed to make before it fell apart was a sequel to Honey, I Shrunk the Kids with Josh Gad, which could be an indication he might be interested in returning. If Spaceballs 2 could get Moranis involved that would be quite a coup. And the teaser does include a shot of Helmet’s, uh, helmet. So it seems possible.
UPDATE: Deadline reports that both Rick Moranis and Bill Pullman are set to reprise their roles in Spaceballs 2 — and that Keke Palmer and Bill Pullman’s son Lewis Pullman (recently seen as the Sentry in Thunderbolts*) will appear in the film as well. So it’s already shaping up to be quite a cast.
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