As tributes continue to pour in and the world works to make sense of losing Robin Williams by remembering his past, in some corners discussion was quietly turned to the unpleasant, yet necessary business of considering the future. Williams had various projects he’d either completed or was said to be working on at the time of his death, with four of them already scheduled for release.
Most visibly, Williams reprised his role as Teddy Roosevelt in Night At The Museum 3: Secret Of The Tomb, a movie that already debuted a trailer ahead of its Dec. 19 release. And before that, he’ll also star opposite Joel McHale, Lauren Graham, Wendi McLendon-Covey, and Oliver Platt in Merry Friggin’ Christmas, from Community director Tristram Shapeero and producers Joe and Anthony Russo. It’s scheduled for release on Nov. 7, and its title now unintentionally sums up the sadness that will surround seeing Williams this holiday season.
Looking beyond, Williams stars opposite Bob Odenkirk in Boulevard, a drama from A Guide To Recognizing Your Saints director Dito Montiel that premiered this year at Tribeca, but hasn’t yet found a distributor. (Though it seems likely that will change.) And next year is expected to bring Absolutely Anything, a Terry Jones-directed comedy in which Williams will be heard but not seen as an animated dog, alongside Simon Pegg and aliens voiced by most of the members of Monty Python. The role of “Dennis The Dog” will be Williams’ last.
Most recently, of course, Williams was said to be in talks to return for Mrs. Doubtfire 2, a 21-years-later sequel for which a script was reportedly already in the second draft stages. Variety reports that the project is now “in doubt”—a supposition it bases on unnamed “sources” that it probably didn’t need to ask, and certainly not yesterday. Still, Variety reminds that “Hollywood often likes to ‘reboot’ hit movie franchises or proceed with sequels without the original stars. Just ask Batman, Speed 2 or even Professor Dumbledore from the Harry Potter series,” just in case you weren’t feeling depressed enough today.