Spaceballs is coming back with Rick Moranis…and Josh Gad.
A field of stars, the swell of a grand orchestral fanfare, the inclined text receding into the stellar void as we read the history of Star Wars’ legacy announcing a long-awaited project.
Spaceballs 2: The Schwartz Awakens
Rick Moranis in Spaceballs as Dark Helmet – YouTube, PonAdidas
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One day after Deadline reported Amazon MGM studios is “heavily invested in theatrical” and they’re “not holding any content back” from their 2026 slate of movies, Mel Brooks announced the 2027 release of the long-rumored sequel to his 1987 sci-fi comedy Spaceballs.
In typical Mel Brooks style, the trailer mocks the state of modern movies with the sequels, prequels, prequels to sequels, and such. The teaser concludes with a 99-year-old Mel Brooks wearing a Spaceballs: The Sweatshirt sweatshirt, talking to the camera. Brooks will appear again as the sage, Yogurt, who once guided the film’s heroes into a greater understanding of the schwartz and where the real money of a movie is made, merchandizing.
I told you we’d be back pic.twitter.com/RnoklPqBX6
— Mel Brooks (@MelBrooks) June 12, 2025
Spaceballs 2 has been rumored for a long time with Moranis saying in 2013 that it might be called Spaceballs III: The Search for Spaceballs II. But when that fell through, Brooks said he would like to release a sequel called Spaceballs II: The Search for More Money, that would be released after the next Star Wars movie (The Force Awakens at the time).
That too didn’t happen.
Clearly sequels and spinoffs have been on Brooks’ mind, just not his own. The teaser’s text crawl ends by saying that, “…in thirty-eight years there has only ever been one… SPACEBALLS… until now…” This is factually in error since there was a 15-episode animated series, Spaceballs: The Animated Series, which aired in 2008 on G4.
Josh Gad sits for an interview – YouTube, CONAN
While Brooks was heavily touted in this reveal, it’s important to remember that he’s not writing this second entry. Absent from all the recent hype has been Josh Gad (Frozen) who has been confirmed to be writing and starring in the upcoming Spaceballs sequel. Brooks will simply produce while reprising the role of Yogurt.
Casting news soon followed, confirming that Bill pullman will return to play Lone Star, the space Winnebago driving schwartz wielder. Keke Palmer (Nope) has been cast, though no character details for her have been released. While stories had to quickly be updated to include the late-dropping news that Lewis Pullman (Top Gun: Maverick) will be joining his father playing an undisclosed role, the big news to many fans is that Rick Moranis will be returning to play Dark Helmet.
Rick Moranis in Spaceballs as Dark Helmet – YouTube, PonAdidas
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From the late ‘70’s and through the ‘80’s Rick Moranis became a staple of comedy. But when he lost his wife, Ann Belsky, to cancer in 1991 he began to pull back from public life to focus on raising his children. Throughout the 90’s he made a smattering of family movies and after 2000 he did a little voice-over work. The last fans may have heard of him was in late 2020 when he was the victim of random violence in the infamous knockout game fad. Strangely the attack happened only minutes from the apartment building where his character, Lewis Tully, lived in the 1984 hit, Ghostbusters.
The inimitable John Candy (1950-1994) appeared in the original Spaceballs as Barf, the Mog (half man/half dog, his own best friend). If his character is to be recast there is no word yet on whom it would be.
Rick Moranis in Spaceballs as Dark Helmet – YouTube, PonAdidas
Deadline reports that Spaceballs 2: The Schwartz Awakens has been described as, “a non-prequel non-reboot sequel part two but with reboot elements franchise expansion film” by people who have not yet seen the script. Josh Greenbaum (Strays) is directing based off a screenplay from Josh Gad and the writing team of Benji Samit and Dan Hernandez (Pokemon: Detective Pikachu and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem)
Previously Josh Gad worked with Mel Brooks on the divisive (75% tomatometer vs 34% popcornmeter scores as of this writing on Rotten Tomatoes), History of the World, Part II where he played Shakespeare. He is also announced to star with Rick Moranis in the upcoming Shrunk, a new entry in the Honey, I Shrunk the Kids series, that will be directed by Joe Johnston.
How do you feel about Rick Moranis returning for Spaceballs 2? Sound off in the comments and let us know!
Josh Gad? Nope. I’m done.
So a remake of a parody, forty years too late. Yay. Excitement.