The Schwartz Awakens (Sort of)
It’s happening. Spaceballs is getting a sequel.
After nearly four decades, Mel Brooks and company are giving us a follow-up to the 1987 sci-fi satire that taught a generation the power of the Schwartz, the perils of ludicrous speed, and the career hazards of working for Pizza the Hutt. Amazon MGM Studios is behind the project, with a theatrical release slated for 2027. Brooks has been trying to get the sequel launched since as early as 2013.
Bill Pullman is back as Lone Starr. Rick Moranis—who hasn’t taken on a major live-action role in decades—is returning as Dark Helmet. That alone may be the wildest headline here. Moranis famously stepped away from acting in the late ‘90s to raise his kids after the death of his wife, and his return has been sporadic at best. His most recent onscreen appearance was a Mint Mobile commercial with Ryan Reynolds in 2020.
Also joining the cast: Keke Palmer, currently riding high after One of Them Days, and Lewis Pullman (Top Gun: Maverick, Outer Range, and soon Thunderbolts), Bill’s son, in an undisclosed role. So far, details on both characters are being kept under wraps, along with the plot.
Now you see that evil will always triumph because good is dumb.
—Dark Helmet
Mel Brooks, now 98 years old, is also returning—as Yogurt, of course—and reportedly has a role in producing the film as well. He’s already teased the project in vintage Mel Brooks fashion: “After 40 years, we asked, ‘what do the fans want’? But instead, we’re making this movie.”
The new installment is being described, depending on who you ask, as a “non-prequel, non-reboot sequel with reboot elements” or a “franchise expansion,” which sounds like studio-speak for: “we’re not entirely sure yet either,” but is probably fueled directly by Mel Brooks’ PR department.
Behind the camera is Josh Greenbaum, who directed Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar, and he’s working from a script by Benji Samit, Dan Hernandez, and Josh Gad. Gad is also expected to star and is one of several producers on the project, alongside Brooks, Greenbaum, and Imagine Entertainment’s Brian Grazer and Jeb Brody.
For context: the original Spaceballs was a send-up of Star Wars, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Alien, Star Trek, and most of the sci-fi cinema zeitgeist at the time. It grossed just over $38 million globally—not blockbuster money even then—but it earned a devoted cult following that’s only grown over time. Ask anyone over 30 to recite a quote from the film and odds are good they’ll deliver something from the merchandising sequence or Colonel Sanders’ “I knew it—I’m surrounded by assholes!”
In the 2000s, Spaceballs: The Animated Series was produced in conjunction with the American cable channel G4 and Canadian network Super Channel. The series was produced by Brooks, with much of the original cast returning for the show, minus key cast members Bill Pullman, Rick Moranis, and John Candy, who had since passed away. The show aired in 2008, but was canceled after only one season of 13 episodes.
Pullman, best known for Independence Day and Lost Highway, has been seen more recently in The Sinner, The High Note, and Dark Waters. He’s got Netflix’s The Boroughs and A24’s Famous coming up.
As for Palmer, she’s about to appear opposite Eddie Murphy in The Pickup (August 6), and in Good Fortune from Aziz Ansari (October 17), as well as Boots Riley’s I Love Boosters.
The project is early enough that we haven’t even seen concept art, and of course there are no production stills because we’re not there yet, but if the cast holds and the tone leans into the anarchic weirdness that made the original work, it might—might—escape the curse of nostalgia sequels. Then again, we’ve all seen what happens when you go to ludicrous speed.
Stay tuned. And may the Schwartz be with you.
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