Here’s the bad news. Space balls: the new It is not coming to us at a ridiculous speed. The sequel won’t be in theaters until April 23, 2027, but the cast and crew still decided that this week, at San Diego Comic-ConIt was time to start the publicity train. And we are excited.
After a fun video introduction by Mel Brooks himself, the panel began with an introduction of the cast, minus one important person: Rick Moranis. Everyone was curious about where it was, so they decided to comb the audience. space balls Then, the actors with big combs walked through the halls of Hall H and found people wearing Dark Helmet masks. And finally, one was Rick Moranis. Moranis took the stage to thunderous applause and even a chant: “Rick, RIck, Rick.” This is your first Comic-Con.
Moderator Kevin Smith asked producer and star Josh Gad how this all happened. And Gad apparently cold-called Brooks and his team, launching into a 40-minute speech that Brooks barely understood. But he loved it. Basically, Gad’s idea was that because science fiction and film in general have changed so much in the last 40 years, space balls It was the perfect vehicle to catch up with everyone.
Moranis said he’s been asked about a sequel for years and the script and idea came at the perfect time for him. He called the decision to do so one of the best he ever made. We then saw footage filmed by director Josh Greenbaum of Brooks meeting first with Bill Pullman and Daphne Zuniga, as well as Rick Moranis. They were both very excited as they all kept in touch, but they hadn’t seen each other in decades.
Brooks returns as Yogurt in the film but, at 100 years old, he couldn’t be on set. Then, it was revealed that they filmed his lines in a studio and recorded his face to capture movement. He originally had the stitches, but they were bothering him and he had them removed.
Bill Pullman couldn’t be in San Diego because he’s filming something else but he sent a letter. His son, Lewis, who became emotional talking about finally being able to work with his father on something, read the letter. That he didn’t mention it at all. It was very fun.
Keke Palmer didn’t say anything about her character, Destiny, except that she loved playing her and found the script incredibly funny. Gad also didn’t say who, specifically, he was playing, except that he’s not playing Barf but is, in fact, playing another Mawg. He called the film, in essence, a love letter to John Candy, as well as some of the other cast members who have come along the way.
In perhaps the best moment of the panel, the team revealed that Spaceballs would be the first film in a cinematic universe called Almighty Schwartz Saga, also known as ASS. They even revealed plans for an ASSwhole with a massive selection of screens that went by so fast we couldn’t catch them all. But here are some:
LOL, the Spaceballs film saga was announced! (This is only part) pic.twitter.com/6q8UF4eOFq
– Germain Lussier (@GermainLussier) July 24, 2026
The panel finally ended with some teaser images that were very close to what was shown at CinemaCon. You can read more about this. herebut there seemed to be few new scenes (or some that I didn’t notice a few months ago). The yogurt is at Carbonite and they call it “Frozen Yogurt.” Dark Helmet fights Yogurt with claw-like lightsabers. There is “space balls: The exercise ball.” Destiny fights the flamethrower. There’s a scene of white-haired characters kissing, Game of Thrones style. We see child versions of the characters fall from the sky to the ground. Dark Helmet hits the “Restart” button and we get a trippy scene that mixes the characters of Destiny and Lewis Pullman with the VHS scene from the original movie. Then it ended with the Avatar CinemaCon footage prank.
Starring Rick Moranis, Josh Gad, Keke Palmer, Lewis Pullman, Anthony Carrigan, George Wyner, Daphne Zuniga, Bill Pullman and Mel Brooks. Space balls: the new premieres on April 23, 2027. Here’s the official plot description:
Somehow, Dark Helmet has returned! Forty years after the events of the first Spaceballs, fifty years after the events of Star Wars: A New Hope, and one year after the events of The Devil Wears Prada 2, the galaxy is once again threatened. A threat so evil, so unstoppable, so lacking in original ideas, that it has promised to bring back the past… every last bit of it.
With Lone Starr in hiding, Queen Vespa on the throne, and Schwartz thinner than a franchise releasing television episodes in theaters, the only hope for the galaxy is Vespa’s unruly son, Prince Starburst, and a mysterious Palace advisor named Destiny. Together, they must find Lone Starr, Yogurt, and every other iconic legacy character fans demand before finding out the hard way that while there are some threats you can fight, the reboot isn’t one of them.
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