Death comes again for Bill and Ted in our first look at the duo's belated sequel
What an Excellent Adventure it was when Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter first joined forces in 1989, delivering a delightfully dumb and deceptively clever comedy that confronted a pair of affable dimwits with history’s most influential luminaries. Two years later, Bill and Ted embarked on a Bogus Journey that doubled down on the original’s absurdity, folding death and a pair of robot clones into an overarching plot about how metal can save the world. They’re a relic of another era in studio comedy, those movies, and it’ll be interesting to see whether their daffy, scrappy spirit can persevere in the long-gestating Bill & Ted Face The Music.
The sequel premieres next summer and, while we don’t have a trailer just yet, we do have a handful of images to prove that, yes, this isn’t just an elaborate prank designed to shatter our still-pristine vision of Reeves, Hollywood nice guy. Not only is (crack character actor and one-time Die Hard villain) William Sadler here to reprise his role as Death (see above), but the phone-booth-cum-time-machine is also here to house our middle-aged heroes.
Lest we lose ourselves in the nostalgia, Orion Pictures have also provided a look at the franchise’s newest characters, Thea (Samara Weaving) and Billie (Brigette Lundy-Paine), the daughters of our heroes, as well as whoever it is Kid Cudi ends up playing. Maybe a Rufus-type figure? (We miss you, George Carlin.)
Bless the outfits. Bless the suburban milieu. And, most of all, bless those vacant stares.
Here’s a synopsis:
The stakes are higher than ever for the time-traveling exploits of William “Bill” S. Preston Esq. (Alex Winter) and Theodore “Ted” Logan (Keanu Reeves) as the now middle aged best friends set out on a new adventure to seek the song that will set their world right and bring harmony in the universe, helped by their daughters (played by Samara Weaving and Brigette Lundy-Paine), a new batch of historical figures, and a few music legends.
Dean Parisot, who directed the excellent Galaxy Quest, is behind the camera, while original screenwriters Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon handled the script. The supporting cast, meanwhile, includes Kristen Schaal, Beck Bennett, Holland Taylor, Jillian Bell, and Barry breakout Anthony Carrigan, who, if we’re being honest, would play a pretty great Death himself.
Bill & Ted Face The Music hits theaters on August 21, 2020.