Yes, Mel Brooks Will Return for <em>Spaceballs 2</em>

If you ever owned a VHS tape, there’s a good chance one of them was Spaceballs. Mel Brooks’s Star Wars parody is a staple comedy of the eighties, featuring the talents of John Candy and Rick Moranis, plus more silly jokes than you can remember. Now, after three prequels, a sequel trilogy, countless spin-offs, and Disney+ shows, Spaceballs is making its way back to theaters.

"After 40 years, we asked, 'What do the fans want?'" Brooks announced in an announcement for the Spaceballs sequel (below). "Instead, we're making this movie." The 98-year-old comedian joked in the original film that a sequel would be titled Spaceballs 2: The Search for More Money. Now, he seemingly willed the film into existence. Brooks ended the announcement with a hearty, "May the Schwartz be with you."

Spaceballs 2 will be directed by Will & Harper’s Josh Greenbaum, who is also known for Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar and the R-rated dog comedy Strays. Not much is known about the project, but Amazon MGM Studios is set to produce alongside Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem writers Benji Samit and Dan Hernandez. According to Deadline, Brooks will reprise his role as Yogurt. Josh Gad and Keke Palmer lead the cast of newcomers, alongside returning cast members Bill Pullman as Lone Starr and Rick Moranis as Dark Helmet.

“Back in the day, we didn’t have Netflix. You just went to your seven VHS tapes that you had in your house—and that was one that was on repeat,” director Josh Greenbaum told Esquire in September. 'So I started speaking with Josh Gad and then, of course, Mel Brooks to work on this. I’ve been working with him. He’s ninety-eight, and he’s still the funniest and sharpest person. It’s a total joy."

With so much new Star Wars material available, there are plenty of avenues to go down. One big idea that comes to mind: Baby Yogurt. They can have that one for free.

“There’s been a ton of Star Wars content,” Greenbaum continued. “It’s just exploded beyond the fact that there have been not three but six Star Wars films made—and that’s just in the Star Wars universe. So there’s a lot of new [material to satirize], but we also certainly focus on continuing the old, so it is a true sequel."