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May the Schwartz be with you… again. In what might be the least expected movie news in quite some time, Amazon MGM Studios is reportedly developing a sequel to Mel Brooks’ 1987 Star Wars parody, Spaceballs. And, as if that wasn’t surprising enough, there’s a twist: this in-development project might actually be… good?

According to reports, Avenue 5’s Josh Gad is attached to produce and star in the feature, which will have the 97-year-old Brooks also attached as a producer. Gad also co-wrote the screenplay, and here’s where things get interesting, because he wrote it with Benji Samit and Dan Hernandez, a writing team whose credits include Pokemon: Detective Pikachu, Apple TV+’s Central Park — which also starred Gad — and 2023’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem.

Also attached to the project is director Josh Greenbaum, who should be celebrated worldwide for bringing the world Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar. (No, really; if you haven’t seen it, you should. Go do that now. We’ll wait.) With this kind of talent behind the scenes, it’s very possible that this movie might actually be great. Who saw that coming?

The original Spaceballs was written and directed by Brooks, with Thomas Meehan and Ronny Graham also working on the screenplay; a broad parody of the original Star Wars trilogy — how broad? The Darth Vader parody was called Dark Helmet — that also managed to work in gags about everything from Transformers to Planet of the Apes and The Wizard of Oz. Considered a flop on its initial release, it’s since become a cult favorite, thanks in part to a stellar cast list (no pun intended) that includes John Candy, Rick Moranis, Joan Rivers, and Brooks himself.

As strange as it may seem, this second Spaceballs movie will be the second follow-up to the original film; there was a short-lived animated series based on the show that aired on G4 back in 2008. And there’s also whatever this was, made to promote a re-release of the movie on DVD and Blu-ray a decade or so ago, taking advantage of the promotion for the then-new Star Wars: The Force Awakens…

You guys, it’s not even as if Spaceballs was that good in the first place…

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