At long last, Spaceballs 2: The Search for More Money might finally become a reality. According to Jeff Sneider, Josh Gad is set to star in a Spaceballs sequel directed by Josh Greenbaum (Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar) for Amazon MGM Studios. Gad also co-wrote the script with Benji Samit (Detective Pikachu) and Dan Hernandez (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem) and will produce the project alongside Mel Brooks.
Plot details for Spaceballs 2 are being kept under wraps at this time, but the original 1987 movie starred Bill Pullman as Lone Star, John Candy as Barg, Daphne Zuniga as Princess Vespa, Rick Moranis as Lord Dark Helmet, and Mel Brooks as President Skroob and Yogurt. Although the film was primarily a parody of Star Wars, it also included some humourous nods to Alien (with John Hurt reprising his famous role) and Star Trek.
Aside from serving as a joke in the film itself, the idea of a Spaceballs sequel has been bounced around for quite some time. Mel Brooks spoke about wanting to make a sequel with Rick Moranis close to a decade ago, but nothing came of it. Since the release of the original Spaceballs movie, we’ve seen the release of a lot of Star Wars projects, including the prequel trilogy, the sequel trilogy, various TV shows, and more, so I’d wager there’s a lot of potential material to the Spaceballs sequel to mine for laughs.
It’d be hard to imagine Spaceballs 2 without at least a few members of the original cast making an appearance. It would be great to see Rick Moranis again, but the actor has largely retired, although he did reprise the role of Dark Helmet for an episode of The Goldbergs in 2018. He was also set to return as Wayne Szalinski for a sequel to Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (which was also set to star Josh Gad) before that project fell apart. So perhaps it’s not outside the realm of possibility that he could be lured back.
What do you hope to see from Spaceballs 2? Should the sequel even happen?