Who had this on their bingo card? After almost 30 years away, Rick Moranis is back! He basically disappeared from live-action movies in the late ’90s. He retired, you could say. Well, he’s officially returning as Lord Dark Helmet in the upcoming Spaceballs 2!
The original 1987 Mel Brooks classic, a Star Wars parody, helped make Moranis a household name (alongside John Candy and Bill Pullman). Now, decades later, the sequel is filming, with Moranis, Pullman, and Brooks himself returning. Brooks reprises his role as Yoda parody Yoghurt. Joining them: Josh Gad, Keke Palmer, Lewis Pullman, and Anthony Carrigan. Amazon MGM says the movie is set for a 2027 release.
For Moranis, this marks his first live-action feature since 1997’s Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves. After hits like Ghostbusters and The Flintstones, he stepped away to raise his kids following the death of his wife, make-up designer Ann Belsky. Since then, he’s mostly done voice work — Brother Bear — and cameo appearances, like a commercial with Ryan Reynolds or the Disney+ doc series Prop Culture. Ghostbusters reboots? He passed.
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Spaceballs 2 was teased back in June ’25 with a perfect poke at Hollywood sequel mania: a Star Wars-style crawl listing every prequel, sequel, spinoff, and cinematic universe ever made. Adding, “…but in thirty-eight years there has only ever been one Spaceballs… until now.”
Meanwhile, fans are remembering the late John Candy. Macaulay Culkin recently praised Candy for looking out for him on set as a kid. If Spaceballs 2 lives up to even half of that original magic, and with Moranis back in the mix, it’s safe to say the script was good enough to bring him out of retirement.
Will Spaceballs 2 live up to the expectations? Who knows, who cares? At least it’s happening. Name another movie that deserves a sequel!
