The long-awaitedBill & Ted 3might actually, maybe, possibly really happen. A third film in theBill & Tedfranchise has been in the works for a long while, with writersEd SolomonandChris Matheson—who wroteBill & Ted’s Excellent AdventureandBill & Ted’s Bogus Journey—beginning work on a script back in 2010. The sequel has never officially been set up at a studio, but given Solomon and Matheson’s passion for the characters and starsKeanu ReevesandAlex Winter’s desire to return, the writers wrote a script completely on spec.
WhileBill & Ted 3is still technically “in development,” new details have arisen fromEW, which gathered Solomon, Matheson, Reeves, and Winter for a reunion piece. TitledBill & Ted Face the Music, the sequel focuses on Rufus’s (George Carlin) promise at the end ofExcellent Adventurethat Bill and Ted would go on to write music that would turn the world into a utopia. The problem is, inFace the Music, they haven’t really done that yet.
“You’re told you’re gonna save the world,” Matheson says. “And now you’re 50 and you haven’t done it. Now they’re married, and it affects their marriages, and it affects their relationships with their kids, and it affects theireverything.”
“Everybody’s a little older now,” notes Reeves. “A little afraid.”
“There’s certain comparisons,” says Winter. “A rock band that never goes to the place it thought it was going to get to. Having that moment in their life of going: ‘Do we try to get there, or give up the dream?'”
Solomon, who most recently wroteSteven Soderbergh’s excellent branched narrativeMosaicfor HBO, goes so far to say thatFace the Musicis “kind of likeA Christmas Carolwith Bill and Ted. Looking at their lives, and really kind of rediscovering what they’re about.” That sounds like a brilliant idea for aBill & Tedfollow-up right there, and especially right now it feels like the world could really use aBill & Tedmovie. Luckily, it looks like maybe, finally, hopefully this thing will actually happen soon. Solomon says they’re hoping to close a deal for financing within the next month or so, andDean Parisot(Galaxy Quest) is still attached to direct.
As previously revealed,William Sadleris returning as Death, and Steven Soderbergh is onboard as one of the producers alongside original producerScott Kroopf. The sequel has a lot going for it, and while there’s no such thing as a sure thing in this unpredictable Hollywood climate, the perseverance of Solomon, Matheson, Reeves, and Winter bodes well. After years of crossing fingers, there’s no reason to give up hope onBill & Ted 3yet.
