While doing press for JAY AND SILENT BOB REBOOT (my original review is here), star Jason Lee, who returns to the role of Brodie in the film, gave me an update on what's on deck next for him, after taking a bit of an acting hiatus. At least two of those things could include characters he's played before, including the aforementioned Brodie, who was first introduced in Kevin Smith's 1995 film MALLRATS, and the other is Lee's television role of Earl Hickey from My Name Is Earl. While Kevin Smith has made it known that the on-again-off-again MALLRATS sequel (now titled TWILIGHT OF THE MALLRATS) is back on deck for 2020, My Name Is Earl has been in limbo after being abruptly cancelled in 2009 after four seasons and a cliffhanger ending with a "To Be Continued…" tag at the end, leaving fans without a proper ending to the series, which revolves around a scoundrel named Earl (Lee) who wins the lottery and decides to make a list to right all the wrongs in his life.
As a fan of the show, I had to ask Lee if there was a chance we could see a My Name Is Earl revival, seeing as those are all the rage these days and if he'd be game for something like that. Here's what he had to say in response:
"We would be, we’ve talked about it, yeah. At least like, even a little three-part series to wrap up the list or something, we’ve talked about it, yeah."
When asked if they had talked to Netflix or another streaming service about the possibility, Lee said, "You should talk to Greg Garcia about that. But, yeah, that’s definitely on the list, no pun intended, to try to wrap up that universe if we can."
At the end of the interview I re-iterated my hopes for a My Name Is Earl revival and Lee had this to say:
"Start a petition. Everybody asks me, ‘what happened, what happened, what happened’? I get that question probably more than any other question. My answer to that is ‘I hope we do’."
As far as returning to the role of Brodie in Kevin Smith's newly-titled TWILIGHT OF THE MALLRATS, I asked if Lee would be returning for the film (assuming Smith proceeds) and he affirmed he would, saying, "Yeah. Yeah, that would be a lot of fun." So, it's good to know that we can count on Brodie and his wild antics and rants to be ever-present in the 25-year-later sequel.
There's MUCH more in the full interview with Lee, including a discussion about how he initially got the role of Brodie, reflecting on his scenes with the late Stan Lee, his voice work as Syndrome for THE INCREDIBLES and what the process is like working with Kevin Smith, from MALLRATS to CHASING AMY and now again with JAY AND SILENT BOB REBOOT. You can listen to the whole thing on The Beard and The Bald season 3 podcast, which drops on January 31st.
JAY AND SILENT BOB REBOOT is now on Blu-Ray/DVD and digital!