Nearly four decades ago, Mel Brooks’ Spaceballs debuted in theaters and quickly established itself as one of the best Star Wars parodies. There’s been talk of a sequel for years, but nothing concrete until earlier this year when Josh Gad revealed he was attached to a new Spaceballs movie and co-writing the script. According to Gad, the first draft of the script has now been finished, and the sequel is one step closer to finally happening.
“Without MGM taking me into their Culver prison cells, I can tell you that the draft is done,” said Gad during an interview with Forbes. “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.”
Brooks directed and starred in the first Spaceballs in a dual role as the evil President Skroob and Yogurt, the mentor of Lone Starr (Bill Pullman). John Candy co-starred as Lone Starr’s sidekick Barf, with Daphne Zuniga as Princess Vespa, Joan Rivers as Dot Matrix, and Rick Moranis as Dark Helmet. Brooks, Zuniga, and Rivers reprised their roles for the short-lived Spaceballs: The Animated Series in 2008. Beyond that show, a sequel never came to fruition.
Gad hasn’t elaborated on who he will play in the movie, but the logical choice seems like either Barf or Barf’s son. While the actor couldn’t disclose any story details, he did share his excitement to be working directly with Brooks on the script.
“It’s a dream to be able to finally make the reality prophesied by Yogurt in the first movie happen,” said Gad. “I can’t say more than that. I can’t tell you anything beyond [the] process at this point, but I can tell you every hour of every day right now is spent making this project closer and closer to reality. And I think we’re nearing the end zone here.”
The original Spaceballs hit theaters on June 24, 1987. So there’s still time to get the sequel ready for the 40th anniversary in 2027, if not sooner. For now, we’ll just have to see if the project can actually make it through development.