Bill & Ted 3 finally happening, say Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter
Three decades after the first movie was released, Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter have announced plans for a third Bill & Ted film.
Shooting will begin this year, and the film is expected to hit cinemas in the summer of 2020. Reeves, now 54, will once again play Theodore “Ted” Logan and Winter, 53, will return to the role of William “Bill” S. Preston Esq.
The pair broke the well-received news in a video on YouTube. Standing outside the Hollywood Bowl, the old colleagues thanked their fans and revealed that the long-anticipated new film would be called Bill & Ted: Face the Music.
Producers at Orion Pictures have given an outline of the plot. They told Vanity Fair: “Yet to fulfil their rock and roll destiny, the now middle-aged best friends set out on a new adventure, when a visitor from the future warns them that only their song can save life as we know it and bring harmony to the universe. Along the way, they will be helped by their families, old friends and a few music legends.”
The first two films of the comedy series, Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure and Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey, were released in 1989 and 1991. The franchise was surprisingly successful: the movies gained a cult following and inspired a musical, a cartoon adaptation, and even Bill & Ted themed cereal.
Confirmation of this film release has been a long time coming. Back in 2014, Winter was discussing the third Bill & Ted film with Yahoo Movies. “It’s for the fans of Bill & Ted,” he explained. “It’s not going to feel like a reboot. The conceit is really funny: what if you’re middle-aged, haven’t really grown up and you’re supposed to have saved the world and maybe, just maybe, you kinda haven’t?”
Reeves has also been considering the project for years. In 2013 he told NBC’s Today show: “I think it’s pretty surreal, playing Bill & Ted at 50. But we have a good story in that. You can see the life and joy in those characters, and I think the world can always use some life and joy.”
Last year, it was revealed that the film would be written by the series' original writers, Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon, and directed by Academy Award-winner Dean Parisot.
