Dune 3 Casting Raises Huge Questions for the Future of the Franchise

Editorial Staff / 8 minutes
June 19, 2025
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3 min read

This article contains spoilers for the Dune franchise. By this point, even the average moviegoer knows that the Dune franchise is weird. But devotees of Frank Herbert‘s sci-fi novels have been warning civilians for years that things are going to get so much weirder, starting with director Denis Villeneuve‘s next movie, an adaptation of the […]

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We’ve had Spaceballs: The Lunch Box, Spaceballs: The Flamethrower, and even Spaceballs: The Toilet Paper. But now it’s time for Spaceballs: The Sequel. The Schwartz is still strong with 98-year-old comedy legend Mel Brooks, who will return once again as wise teacher Yogurt for Spaceballs 2, the follow-up to Brooks’ 1987 Star Wars parody.

It’s been 30 years since Brooks last wrote and directed a movie (though he’s received a few writing credits here and there), and it was 1995’s Dracula: Dead and Loving It. But Brooks isn’t writing or directing Spaceballs 2. Josh Greenbaum (Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar, Will & Harper) takes over directing duties while the script is credited to Benji Samit, Dan Hernandez, and Josh Gad. However, the creative quartet would be fools not to take some advice from Brooks, who got his start writing for Sid Caesar in 1950 and has long been one of the most influential voices in American comedy. Of course a lot’s changed since Brooks last skewered a Hollywood blockbuster, but therein lies the fun. There is now just so much more ridiculous stuff for him to spoof, including these Dark Schwartz trends.

Spoofing the Superheroes

Seven years after Dead and Loving It came Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man, the first great entry in the second wave of superhero movies, a genre that only grew more dominant with the MCU and the endless pantheon of interconnected films that followed. So of course we’ve got to see what Brooks can do with the genre.

The one major objection one might bring relates to the 98-year-old comedian’s relationship to the source matieral. Brooks’ best parodies come from a genuine love and respect for whatever genre he was taking the piss out of. He got the original props from 1931’s Frankenstein for his own Young Frankenstein and hired original Western crooner Frankie Laine to sing the title ballad in Blazing Saddles. It’s hard to imagine that Brooks has strong feelings about the upcoming Booster Gold movie. So maybe he won’t be able to provide the level of detail that he brought to his best work.

On the other hand, Brooks is a consummate Borsch Belt comedian and loves working his Jewish heritage into his comedies. The original superhero creators—guys like Jerry Siegel, Joe Shuster, Stan Lee, and Jack Kirby—were Jewish, and while the degree to which their heritage influenced their work varied, certainly Brooks could pull out enough to spin some incredible jokes. Also there is plenty of crossover these days between superhero movies like Guardians of the Galaxy or even Thor: Ragnarok and The Marvels, and Star Wars. Room to grow and laugh at gags.