Kevin Smith shares first look at Clerks III, featuring an homage to Clerks II

Cue the “not even supposed to be here today” jokes—a first look at Clerks III is here. Kevin Smith’s spent years talking about making the third part to Clerks. He’s gone through various iterations of the script before ultimately landing on a story that felt right for the lovable slackers’ return. Clerks III is currently filming in Leonardo, New Jersey and the first picture from the movie shows Dante (Brian O’Halloran) and Randal (Jeff Anderson) back at the Quick Stop—that they now own. They are joined by Elias (Trevor Fehrman) and Dante’s wife, Becky (Rosario Dawson), who were first introduced in Clerks II.

Kevin Smith loves to give fans Easter eggs as much as the MCU, so we have to give him points for this first press photo being nearly identical to the one for Clerks II—with the gang swapping their Mooby’s uniforms for Quick Stop ones. And in case anyone was concerned about the absence of Smith and Jason Mewes from the picture, don’t worry. They’re set to reprise their roles as Jay and Silent Bob, too. After all, is it really a View Askewniverse movie if you don’t get to see the duo onscreen?

As for what fans can expect from this sequel, Lionsgate also shared the official logline: “Following a massive heart attack, Randal enlists Dante, Elias, Jay and Silent Bob to make a movie immortalizing his life at the convenience store that started it all.” It’s a very meta take on the movie, as Smith himself experienced a near-fatal heart attack in 2018. The experience prompted the filmmaker to make Jay And Silent Bob Reboot, that features many of his most recognizable characters onscreen, including Brodie from Mallrats, and Holden and Amy from Chasing Amy. “I was hellbent to make Jay and Silent Bob Reboot speak for me as kind of a living gravestone,” he told VICE in 2019. “Suddenly, this movie is no longer just a funny sequel. It’s meant to stand for everything that I ever did over the course of my 25 years in the business.”