Kevin Smith is removing Jay and Silent Bob from the Moose Jaws script

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

Five years ago, Kevin Smith started writing the script for a film called MOOSE JAWS, which would wrap up the True North Trilogy he started with TUSK and continued with YOGA HOSERS. The story of a killer moose terrorizing a summer camp in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, MOOSE JAWS has always been simply described as 

JAWS with a moose.

Smith stuck close to the structure of JAWS while writing the script, and he also had to find characters that could stand in for Brody, Hooper, and Quint in the story. For the Brody role, he envisioned Epic Meal Time's Harley Morenstein as a camp counselor said to be a mixture of Roy Scheider in JAWS and Bill Murray in MEATBALLS. Standing in for Hooper is Genesis Rodriguez, reprising her role from TUSK. But figuring out the Quint character proved to be more difficult. He considered putting Johnny Depp's TUSK and YOGA HOSERS character Guy Lapointe at the head of the moose hunt, but didn't want to ask Depp to devote so much time to the project. So he turned to a pair he knew would be glad to devote their time: himself and Jason Mewes, once again taking on the roles of Jay and Silent Bob, this time to go moose hunting.

And yes, one of them would have died, just like Quint did. In the draft of the script Smith wrote in 2015, Silent Bob was eaten by the moose.

Plans are changing now, though. During an interview on Jake Hamilton's YouTube show, Smith revealed that Jay and Silent Bob will not be in MOOSE JAWS after all. After using his quarantine time to finish a draft of the MALLRATS sequel TWILIGHT OF THE MALLRATS, Smith started working on a rewrite of MOOSE JAWS: 

Right now I'm in the middle of that, and I'm stripping Jay and Silent Bob out of it. The first draft I had ever done, Jay and Silent Bob were riddled throughout it, and now I want that movie to be by itself. Jay and Silent Bob are gonna come back in MALLRATS and stuff like that, so I'm just de-Jay-and-Bobbing MOOSE JAWS."

Smith didn't say who will be replacing Jay and Silent Bob in the Quint role. I believe what he meant by saying he wants MOOSE JAWS to be "by itself" is that he didn't want to connect it to the View Askewniverse that Jay and Silent Bob inhabit. It doesn't sound like he's turning it into a standalone that's also separate from TUSK and YOGA HOSERS, because he has confirmed that Guy Lapointe is still in the script.

In addition to Morenstein, Rodriguez, and Depp, the cast of the film is also expected to include Harley Quinn Smith and Lily-Rose Depp, reprising their TUSK and YOGA HOSERS roles, and a part has been written for Chris Jericho.

Since the Jay and Silent Bob scenes won't be in MOOSE JAWS, Smith read those sections of the script on his weekday morning show "Wake & Bake with Silent Bob", which can only be viewed by fans who subscribe to his That Kevin Smith Club website.