Get ready to return to the planet Druidia. A sequel to Spaceballs, the 1987 classic Star Wars sci-fi parody film from director Mel Brooks, is in development at Amazon MGM Studios, according to Variety. The sequel, which for now just has the working title Spaceballs 2, will count Star Wars megafan Josh Gad in the lead role, with Josh Greenbaum directing.
Plot details on the upcoming Spaceballs sequel remain sealed in a can of Perri-Air for now, but the first film became notable for its near-perfect parody of the Star Wars original trilogy. The film starred Bill Pullman as Lone Star, a Han Solo-type looking to gain a small fortune by paying back the villainous Pizza-the-Hut. Along the way, he encounters Princess Vespa (Daphne Zuniga), who is on the run from both an arranged marriage and the rulers of planet Spaceball, President Skroob (Brooks), and his accomplice Dark Helmet (Rick Moranis). The film was rounded out by a cast that included Joan Rivers, John Candy, George Wyner, and more.
Brooks, despite being 97, isn’t showing any signs of slowing down and is back for his long-awaited space sequel. Brooks will produce the film alongside Gad, while Greenbaum will direct from a screenplay by Gad, Benji Samit, and Dan Hernandez, the latter two of whom are known for scripting Detective Pikachu. Kevin Salter will executive produce.
‘Spaceballs’ Paved the Way For the Parody Genre
While the original MGM Spaceballs film was not the first parody project, it is one of the most notable. Alongside classics like Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein, Spaceballs helped cement Brooks as one of the most notable comic icons in Hollywood history. Notably, while Spaceballs pulled mainly from Star Wars, other popular sci-fi franchises like Alien also weighed heavily on the film, so it remains to be seen what franchises will make an appearance in the sequel decades later.
Gad, a self-professed megafan of Star Wars, has previously teased that a Spaceballs sequel is in the works; just days ago, he posted an image of a script on Instagram, and while the writers were blacked out, the words “based on characters by Mel” can be made out. Beyond Spaceballs 2, Gad, best known for his work in Disney‘s Frozen franchise as the snowman Olaf, will also be directing a highly anticipated biopic of Saturday Night Live comedian Chris Farley, set to star Paul Walter Hauser. He has also been cast in the upcoming Disney+ series Wonder Man alongside Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Ben Kingsley, and has had a long career on Broadway to boot.
No release window for Spaceballs 2 has been announced. Stay tuned to Collider for more information. In the meantime, you can rewatch Spaceballs on Max.
via Collider