NEED TO KNOW
Josh Gad is not ready to formally announce Rick Moranis’ return to acting in the upcoming Spaceballs 2, but he is teasing fans eager to see Dark Helmet again.
“Well, I am not going to comment on whether or not Rick Moranis is returning, but hypothetically, if he were to return, I would say it’s because Rick would have felt like this was a project worthy of his return,” Gad, 44, recently said of the sequel to Spaceballs while he spoke with ScreenRant.
“So watch this space. But what I can say is it is surreal,” Gad, who was promoting his new movie Adulthood, added.
Deadline reported back in June that Moranis, 72, would reprise his role as Dark Helmet alongside Bill Pullman as Lone Starr. Though Moranis’ return has not been confirmed, it would mark the actor’s first live-action role since 1997. He notably stepped away from show business after his wife, costume designer Ann Belsky, died of breast cancer in 1991, to raise their two children, daughter Rachel and son Mitchell, though he has taken on voice acting roles over the years.
Gad united with Mel Brooks in 2024 to create a sequel to Spaceballs, Brooks’ 1987 parody of Star Wars and similar science fiction films. In June, Amazon MGM Studios announced that Brooks, 99, will reprise his role as Yogurt, a gold-skinned parody of the Star Wars character Yoda, in the movie, along with news that the film will release in theaters in 2027. A rep for Amazon MGM Studios had no comment about the reported castings of Moranis, Pullman and Keke Palmer when reached by PEOPLE in June.
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“It’s surreal because I grew up with Spaceballs and when the movie was prophesied in the first film, when Yogurt says, ‘God willing, we’ll all meet again in Spaceballs 2: The Search for More Money,’ I, like everyone else, was just anticipating that that would happen sooner than 40 years later,” Gad additionally told ScreenRant of the sequel.
“But I am so grateful it took that long because it’s the greatest gift on Earth to be able to not only be on the precipice of shooting this movie, but to be able to do it while Mel is still with us,” he added. “So I’m thrilled. I’m beyond excited, and that’s about all I can say for now.”
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Gad cowrote the Spaceballs sequel’s script and will co-produce and star in the movie. The movie’s title, plot details and remainder of its cast remain secret, but it is humorously described as “A Non-Prequel Non-Reboot Sequel Part Two but with Reboot Elements Franchise Expansion Film.”
The Spaceballs sequel expects to release in 2027. Gad’s new movie Adulthood is in theaters Sept. 19.
