A few weeks back, the prospect of a Mallrats sequel was hinted at in a cheeky Facebook post by director Kevin Smith. In the short period to follow, the project has gone from “a glint in the eye” to an official production on Smith’s forthcoming slate. Fitting in into his hectic year ahead saw Clerks 3 take precedent, with Mallrats 2 earmarked for an early 2016 shoot.
My how the tables have turned, as Smith announced on his weekly Hollywood Babble-On show (via Slash Film) that the two sequels are now being shot in the reverse order. Due to some timetable logistics, Mallrats 2 is set to shoot this year and Clerks 3 will take the early 2016 slot.
Read on for a transcription of Smith’s comments, but beware, there’s a major plot spoiler buried in the middle:
We’ve been putting together Mallrats 2….It’s been a real, like Blues Brothers ‘We’re putting the band back together, on a mission from Smod.’ So this week, we had a lot of activity behind the scenes as well and it looks like we might — it’s Mallrats and so we require a big old empty mall, and it would be nice if we could do things to the mall. So if you had a mall and the mall was eventually going away, that would let you like blow the f—ing mall up, which happens in the third act.
So we found a place that we can go to and in order to get to that mall before it goes away, we were talking about initially shooting Clerks 3 this summer and then we were going to get to Mallrats in the beginning of 2016. And then it jumped into 2015, where we were going to shoot Clerks and then hopefully Mallrats before the end of the year. But now, based on a f—ing mall that we all dig that will be going away, the priority has become Mallrats. So the next f—ing movie I’m making is Mallrats 2. No word on Batfleck yet…but it would be fun to see if we could get him.
The majority of the cast from the 1995 original are confirmed to be reprising their roles, with the exception of the aforementioned “Batfleck” (Ben Affleck). That roster now includes Jason Lee, Jeremy London, Renee Humphrey, Shannen Doherty, Joey Lauren Adams, Sven-Ole Thorson, Jason Mewes, Ethan Suplee, Stan Lee and Michael Rooker. If Smith continues to accrue more returning characters for Mallrats 2, he has to include Affleck’s sleazy Shannon Hamilton, right?