A Long-Awaited Mel Brooks Parody Sequel May Finally Happen

When spoof-master Mel Brooks delivered his classic "Star Wars" parody "Spaceballs" back in 1987, his Schwartz-wielding character Yogurt (a riff on Frank Oz's beloved Yoda) made a meta joke that put forth the hope of one day seeing a sequel, "Spaceballs II: The Search for More Money." Sadly, in the decades since "Spaceballs" was released, the line has proven to be nothing more than a punchline. Despite the fact that George Lucas returned to "Star Wars" with a prequel trilogy, Mel Brooks never came back to his sci-fi lampoon, even though the lambasted saga of Anakin Skywalker would have been ripe for parody. However, it seems that the chance of a "Spaceballs" sequel coming together has increased.

"Frozen" and live-action "Beauty and the Beast" co-star Josh Gad made a not-so-cryptic post to social media about the completion of a script that he was very excited about, saying it "may be the funniest and best thing I've ever worked on." Though the script, co-written with "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem" scribes Dan Hernandez and Benji Samit, has the title cropped out, the rest of the text visible around the digital black scribbles teases the possibility of this being a "Spaceballs" sequel.

If you look at the image below, you'll noticed that the cover page of the script says, "Based on Characters Created by" but the name cannot be fully seen. 

Josh Gad

However, what you can see is the name Mel, and considering how short the text is after that name along with a slightly visible "s" at the end, it has to be Mel Brooks. If you don't buy into that, take a look at the first location named on the first page of the script. It reads: EXT. STAR FIELD, which means it's an exterior shot of space, and that's how all of the "Star Wars" movies and the existing "Spaceballs" movie begin.

UPDATE: Variety has reported this is officially happening at MGM, and Josh Gad will also be starring in the movie. Otherwise, the rest of the information we gleaned below is accurate. 

This might seem out of left field, because Josh Gad hasn't written a feature screenplay before, though he did write for his shows "1600 Penn" and "Central Park." But let's not forget that Gad appeared as William Shakespeare last year in "History of the World Part II," Hulu's sequel series to Mel Brooks' historical anthology parody "History of the World Part I." There's a good chance he made the right connections to get Mel Brooks to agree to let a "Spaceballs" sequel happen during that show's production, if he hadn't already gotten the chance to cultivate such an opportunity before that.

Furthermore, let's not forget that Gad was supposed to be working on a "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" legacy-quel/reboot of some kind. That means Gad may have also gotten a chance to connect with that franchise's star, Rick Moranis, who played the villainous Dark Helmet in "Spaceballs." Moranis actually once had his own idea for a "Spaceballs" sequel, which would have been called "Spaceballs III: The Search for Spaceballs II," but that never came together either. Granted, if a "Spaceballs" sequel followed in the footsteps of the "Star Wars" sequels, Moranis wouldn't need to appear in the movie as Dark Helmet (though he once reprised the role on "The Goldbergs"), but Gad's potential connection with him does make that possibility more likely. 

However, there's one other promising detail we can discern from this script page. 

While the name that appears under the "Directed by" credit has been mostly scribbled out, there's enough visible to make a guess at the name beneath. We're pretty sure it's Josh Greenbaum (pictured above), who is coming off directing the R-rated comedy "Strays" last year, which actually included a hilarious cameo by Josh Gad that references his voicework as the dog in "A Dog's Purpose." But more importantly, Greenbaum also directed the parody-esque "Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar," one of the best comedies of the 21st century. The filmmaker was also behind the documentary "Too Funny to Fail: The Life & Death of the Dana Carvey Show," so his comedy connections are strong. 

Honestly, if a "Spaceballs" sequel is coming together and Mel Brooks isn't going to be the one tackling it, despite mentioning the possibility back in 2017, this is quite a solid group of talent who could bring it to life. Hernandez and Samit recently worked on "LEGO Star Wars: Rebuild the Universe," and Gad is not only a die-hard "Star Wars" fan, but he's also a comedy scholar. He's currently working on a biopic about "Saturday Night Live" legend Chris Farley with Paul Walter Hauser playing the beloved funnyman, so Gad clearly has the passion to dig into the comedy legends he grew up on. Plus, I could easily see Gad playing the son of John Candy's Barf. 

As of now, we're not sure if Gad, Hernandez, and Samit wrote this script on spec or if there's already a development deal in place for it. Either way, I'll be keeping my fingers crossed that this actually comes together.