Of course Sharknado 4 is named after a Star Wars film

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

SHARKNADO 4: THE 4TH AWAKENS. No, this isn't an April Fool's Day prank. Well, come to think of it, the whole SHARKNADO franchise is kind of a prank on the human race, isn't it?

Did anybody think we'd actually be getting a third sequel to the runaway social media hit? To be fair, they cost about five dollars to make, so they could pretty much keep churning them out forever, but it is surprising that this franchise has outnumbered the far superior INSIDIOUS or even THE SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRE franchises.

Well, at any rate, Sharknado 4 will be clouding up your TV screens on the SyFy channel on July 31st, brought to you once again by The Asylum and director Anthony C. Ferrante.

The plot:

Five years after the East Coast was ravaged in “Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No!” Fin, his family and the cosmos have been blissfully sharknado-free in the intervening years, but now sharks – and ‘nados! – are being whipped up in places (and ways) least expected…

That could only mean they're actually going to space, right?

Here's the surprisingly massive cast:

Ian Ziering and Tara Reid as shark fighters Fin Shepard and April Wexler, David Hasselhoff as Fin's father Colonel Gil Shepard, and Ryan Newman as Fin and April's daughter Claudia. Joining them for this go-around are Tommy Davidson as Aston Reynolds, the playboy billionaire CEO of tech company Astro-X; Gary Busey as April's father Wilford Wexler, a scientist taking part in the development of an Astro-X energy system that can stop the formation of tornadoes; Cody Linley as Fin and April's son Matt, now in the Army; Imani Hakim as Matt's friend and fellow soldier Gabrielle; Masiela Lusha as Fin's cousin Gemini; and Cheryl Tiegs as Fin's mother Raye.

You'll have to watch to discover the fate of Tara Reid's character April, which was voted on Twitter with the hashtags #AprilLives and #AprilDies.