Video: Kevin Smith hosts the Bill & Ted Face the Music Comic-Con panel

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

The pandemic may have stopped a traditional version of the San Diego Comic-Con from happening this year, but it hasn't stopped the panels – and this year everyone has a chance to watch the panels, no matter where they are, because they're being released through YouTube. Over the weekend, we covered some of them here – The Living Dead: Celebrating the Legacy of George A. Romero, Antlers, the panels for the Walking Dead shows, and Lovecraft Country.

Another panel that went online over the weekend was for BILL & TED FACE THE MUSIC, the long-awaited sequel to BILL & TED'S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE and BILL & TED'S BOGUS JOURNEY. You can see the trailer for FACE THE MUSIC above, and embedded below there's the Comic-Con@Home panel, which finds Kevin Smith interviewing director Dean Parisot, screenwriters Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon, and stars Alex Winter, Keanu Reeves, Samara Weaving, Brigitte Lundy-Paine, and William Sadler.

The panel is a fun and interesting way to spend 43 minutes. Here are some of the highlights, as assembled by our own Chris Bumbray: 

– Smith said it’s an adorable, hopeful movie. 

– Stay through the end credits folks!

– Matheson/ Solomon talked about the history of the franchise a bit and how BILL & TED’S BOGUS JOURNEY was originally called BILL & TED GO TO HELL.

– The idea for FACE THE MUSIC came about ten years ago. 

– Reeves and Winters reminisced about auditioning for the first film.

– Brigette Lundy-Paine had never seen either of the two films before auditioning. Only watched a quick clip to get the voice down.

– Samara Weaving hadn’t seen the movies either! Smith was shocked. Weaving defended herself saying she was born in ’92 and it isn’t as big a thing in Australia – that it’s more of an American phenomenon. She said she realized how major the franchise was when her partner freaked out when she told him she was reading a Bill & Ted script. He then made her watch both back to back immediately and she loved them.

– Dean Parisot said it was so obvious in the casting session with Weaving and Lundy-Paine read together that they were the ones and only realized how much they look like their on-screen dads later.

– Winter noted that the script was very physical, much more than the other two.

– Said they had a moment where they played rocker versions of the characters and they turned to each other and said “Bill & Ted are f*cking back!”

– Reeves says he never has more fun than working with Alex and playing these characters. Says there’s no other place he can laugh like this. 

BILL & TED FACE THE MUSIC has the following synopsis: 

When we last met Bill and Ted they were time-traveling teenagers trying to pass history class and win the battle of the bands. Once prophesized to save the universe with their rock and roll, middle age and the responsibilities of family have caught up with these two best friends who have not yet fulfilled their destiny. They’ve written thousands of tunes, but they have yet to write a good one, much less the greatest song ever written. With the fabric of time and space tearing around them, a visitor from the future warns our heroes that only their song can save life as we know it. Out of luck and fresh out of inspiration, Bill and Ted set out on a time travel adventure to seek the song that will set their world right and bring harmony in the universe as we know it. Together with the aid of their daughters, a new crop of historical figures, and some sympathetic music legends, Bill and Ted find much, much more than just a song. 

The cast members who participated in the panel are joined by Scott "Kid Cudi" Mescudi, Kristen Schaal, Anthony Carrigan, Erinn Hayes, Jayma Mays, Jillian Bell, Holland Taylor, Beck Bennett, Hal Landon Jr., and Amy Stoch. Smith also revealed there's some kind of a George Carlin cameo.

Scott Kroopf, Alex Lebovici, and Steve Ponce produced the film, with Steven Soderbergh, R. Scott Reid, John Ryan Jr., and John Santilli serving as executive producers.

BILL & TED FACE THE MUSIC is set to reach theatres and VOD on September 1st.