While he might not be at James Franco levels of superproductivity, Kevin Smith always tends to have a few dozen balls up in the air at any given moment, and right now, he’s certainly got more than a few things on his plate. His latest movie “Yoga Hosers” is opening this fall, he’s directing another episode of “The Flash,” and his Amazon deal for the “Buckaroo Banzai” TV series is about to be locked down. That’s a lot of small screen gigs, and Smith has yet another on the horizon.
Last month he revealed that his long brewing “Mallrats” sequel was being reconfigured as ten-episode TV series, and hitting San Diego Comic Con over the weekend for a handful of panels, Smith found some time to chat with Deadline and reveal just what fans will be in for with this “Mallrats” sequel series.
“…it’s a multigenerational story, so it’s about all the kids in ‘Mallrats’ and all the kids they had, taking my cues from one of my favorite programs in the world, ‘Degrassi: The Next Generation,’” he explained, referencing the Canadian series, which he guested on in five episodes.
“…’Mallrats’ as a series is kind of like one gigantic blob of soap opera with a lot of dick jokes in it. When we were doing the feature version of it, I had 90 minutes to tell one story,” Smith explained. “But now, essentially, I have 10 half-hour episodes, so that’s five hours to kind of pull and tell the same story and really like dive into the characters. Like, all the characters came back in the ‘Mallrats 2’ script, but sometimes it’s just like, hey, it’s that person, you’re moving on. Now we get to go into their lives and stuff and what happens after happily ever after, so it’s pretty damn fun and funny and stuff.”
The show has yet to be offered out to networks, but Smith says everyone in the original cast will be coming back. Does that include Ben Affleck? It would seem that with the Warner Bros. DC movies on his plate, his schedule is full, but Smith is still going to try to get his old friend involved.
“Affleck’s character has a pretty central but small but useful role. Like, you know, he could do it and it’d be great, but if he doesn’t do it, it wouldn’t be the end of the world at the same time,” he said.
It’s been over 20 years since “Mallrats” was released, and I’m not sure anybody was particularly asking for that narrative to continue. But Smith certainly sounds inspired, and Universal seem sold, but it’ll be up to the networks to decide if they want to take it on. Thoughts? Are you ready to return to the mall? Let us know in the comments section.
