After years of false starts, Clerks III is finally a go, with Lionsgate announcing they’ve acquired worldwide distribution rights to the long-awaited sequel.

Kevin Smith has struggled to get the passion project made for some time, with the screenplay going through multiple iterations. Though an initial stumbling block was the reluctance of Jeff Anderson to return for a third movie (he expertly portrayed the cantankerous clerk Randal in 1994, reprising him as a belligerent burger flipper in 2006), it appears he eventually had a change of heart, and has finally signed on. Coincidentally, it’s the pivotal character’s heart that will be central to the film’s story itself…

After suffering a life-threatening heart attack – similar to that of Kevin Smith’s own 2018 medical emergency – Randal Graves decides to make a movie about himself and his friends. Clerks, basically. On hand to help, Dante (Brian O’Halloran), Becky (Rosario Dawson), Elias (Trevor Fehrman), and, of course, Jay & Silent Bob themselves.

Expect cameos aplenty from the vast View Askewniverse, though we hope given the subject matter and Clerks’ legacy they’ll be significantly less winking at the camera than we recently saw on display in the divisive Jay and Silent Bob Reboot. It’s also worth noting that this will mark the fourth film – after Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Zack and Miri Make a Porno, and Jay and Silent Bob Reboot – in which Smith uses the making of a movie to fuel the plot, so let’s channel some Buddy Christ energy and all have faith the legendary filmmaker has something fresh up those trademark baggy sleeves of his!

The movie starts production next month on location in New Jersey for a 2022 release.

Source: Deadline