Spaceballs 2, the sequel to Mel Brooks’ 1987 satirical space opera, was announced earlier this year and, from the sounds of it, things are getting closer and closer to the starting point thanks to writer Josh Gad, who recently provided fans with one heck of a galaxy-sized update. Gad – famous for voicing the character of Olaf in Disney’s Frozen franchise – is penning the script along with Benji Samit and Dan Hernandez (Detective Pikachu), and will also star in and produce the long-awaited follow-up, which also has Brooks on board as a producer, and Josh Greenbaum (Strays) sitting in the director’s chair.
Sitting down with Forbes to discuss his new comic book series, The Writer, Gad was asked what he could share about the progression of Spaceballs 2, which hails from Amazon MGM Studios. No release date has been set, and while he couldn’t go into too many details thanks to being threatened by the Downside of the Schwartz, Gad did reveal that things are moving very quickly, and thus far, everyone has been “blown away” by what they’ve read.
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“Without MGM taking me into their Culver prison cells, I can tell you that the draft is done. Everybody who’s read it has been blown away. The process of working on this with and alongside Mel Brooks has been one of the highlights of my career.”
Gad’s career has included a myriad of roles, a number of which have been voice work in the likes of Ice Age: Continental Drift, The Angry Birds Movie, Ghostbusters: Afterlife, and the aforementioned Frozen series. He’s also an accomplished stage actor, and was one of the original cast members of the Broadway production The Book of Mormon, for which he was nominated for a Tony Award. He’s set to appear next in the MCU series Wonder Man, which is slated to hit Disney+ next year.
Will Spaceballs 2 Get the Title We Need?
One of the best parts of Spaceballs comes toward the end, when Bill Pullman’s Lone Starr asks Yogurt (Brooks) if they’ll ever see each other again. “Who knows?” Yogurt replies. “God willing, we’ll all meet again in Spaceballs 2: The Search for More Money.” As soon as the sequel was announced back in June, fans have been clamoring to know if that will be its official title, but unfortunately, Gad played things coy when asked that question. “Watch this space,” was all he was able to offer Forbes.
At one point, Rick Moranis, who portrayed Lord Dark Helmet, pitched Spaceballs 2 under the title Spaceballs III: The Search for Spaceballs II, which would also be pretty fun. Either way, with this latest update from Gad being a positive one, we’re just happy to see that things are progressing, and that this is one sequel that won’t linger in development hell for years. It’s been a long wait to get to this point, and though many original cast members such as John Candy, Joan Rivers, and Dick Van Patten have since passed away, we’ll keep our fingers crossed that we can get some new talent that will rival their tremendous performances.
- Release Date
- June 24, 1987