After being delayed time and time again for years, the third Bill and Ted movie is finally going into production. This was possibly helped by the fact that the ever-popular John Wick franchise, a role in Toy Story 4, and a self-deprecating cameo in Netflix’s Always Be My Maybe have made Keanu Reeves an overnight sensation, and one of the most widely beloved people in the world.
The Bill and Ted threequel has been titled Bill and Ted Face the Music and it’s releasing in theaters next summer, so here is Everything We Know (So Far) About Bill And Ted Face The Music.
Bill and Ted have to write a song to save the world
The plot summary for Bill and Ted Face the Music promises an exciting shake-up of the series’ established formula. Whereas the first one saw the two potheads jetting across different historical eras and the second saw them come face-to-face with the Grim Reaper, the third one will see them tasked with writing a song that will save all life in the universe.
They are warned about this responsibility by a visitor from the future, but they end up procrastinating so much that they have to rush the song-writing process at the last minute with the help of their friends, families, and fellow musicians.
It’ll be released on August 21, 2020
The release date for Bill and Ted Face the Music has been set for August 21, 2020, so we’ll only have to wait just over a year to see the iconic duo’s belated next adventure. It won’t face any stiff competition on its opening weekend (at least not that’s been announced yet), but from previous weeks, it’ll need to topple Escape Room 2 and the Disney fantasy film The One and Only Ivan.
In the following weeks, it’ll square off against Michael Chaves’ horror sequel The Conjuring 3, Michael B. Jordan’s Tom Clancy thriller adaptation Without Remorse, and the feature-length Sopranos prequel The Many Saints of Newark.
Jayma Mays and Erinn Hayes have been cast as Bill and Ted’s wives
Jayma Mays has been cast to play Bill’s wife, Princess Joanna Preston, while Erinn Hayes has been cast to play Ted’s wife, Princess Elizabeth Logan, in Bill and Ted Face the Music. Hayes was controversially cut from the CBS sitcom Kevin Can Wait after the network decided to kill her off and make the show a King of Queens reunion by bringing in Leah Remini as the female lead. That show was canceled a season later and now, Hayes is starring in a Bill and Ted movie, so it’s fair to say she got the last laugh.
Mays is best known for her roles in Heroes and Glee, but she also appeared in Paul Blart: Mall Cop, so both of these actresses have the distinction of playing love interests in Kevin James projects.
Kid Cudi has been confirmed to appear
Kid Cudi has been confirmed to appear in the new Bill and Ted movie. While his role hasn’t been disclosed, it seems likely that he’s playing himself. The plot supposedly revolves around Bill and Ted enlisting the help of famous musicians in writing the song that will save the world, so it would be strange to have a famous musician in the movie not playing himself (but then, that might make a great tongue-in-cheek joke).
Cudi has been flexing his comedic muscles in recent years, with guest appearances in Brooklyn Nine-Nine, The Cleveland Show, and the Entourage movie, so Bill and Ted Face the Music will just add to his growing list of comic performances.
Steven Soderbergh is producing
In one of the oddest pieces of behind-the-scenes trivia from Bill and Ted Face the Music, Steven Soderbergh has been confirmed as one of the movie’s producers. Soderbergh is one of the most high-profile and widely acclaimed directors in Hollywood, having helmed both mainstream projects like the Ocean’s Eleven trilogy, Erin Brockovich, and Magic Mike, and smaller indie fare like Sex, Lies, and Videotape, Logan Lucky, and Unsane.
Soderbergh announced his retirement from filmmaking a couple of years ago, but he’s been doing an awful lot of filmmaking since then, so it doesn’t really seem like he’s retired at all.
Jillian Bell will play Bill and Ted’s therapist
Jillian Bell has joined the cast of Bill and Ted Face the Music to play the role of Dr. Taylor Wood, the family therapist used by both Bill and Ted’s families. Dr. Wood is expected to be a significant part in the threequel, since part of the internal conflict of the movie is Bill and Ted’s frustrations with the monotony of middle-aged life, which is probably what landed them in therapy in the first place.
Bell has made her name as a supporting player in comedies like 22 Jump Street and Fist Fight in recent years, while she’s been wowing festival critics with her lead performance in the upcoming Brittany Runs a Marathon.
Dean Parisot is directing
Dean Parisot has been confirmed to be sitting in the director’s chair for Bill and Ted Face the Music. Parisot didn’t director either of the previous two Bill and Ted movies – the first one, Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, was directed by Stephen Herek, while the second, Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey, was helmed by Pete Hewitt in his directorial debut – but he has expertly blended science fiction and comedy in one of his previous efforts: Galaxy Quest.
Galaxy Quest doubled as a parody of Star Trek (both the media franchise and its fan base) and a rollicking sci-fi adventure.
The original writers have penned the script
The characters of Bill Preston and Ted Logan were created by writing duo Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon and remain their most beloved creations. In a rarity for a Hollywood production, their script for the first movie remained mostly untouched and the characters they conceived ended up on the big screen.
They were invited back for the second movie, which helped to prevent it from rehashing the first one, and now, they’ve provided the script for the third. It’s uncommon that Hollywood studios allow writers this much creative control over a franchise and characters they created, so it’s pretty awesome.
William Sadler is reprising his role as Death
Easily the most memorable part of Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey – outside of the title characters’ classic interplay – was William Sadler’s portrayal of the Grim Reaper. Sadler is a renowned character actor, and thankfully, it has been announced that he will return to the role in Bill and Ted Face the Music.
In the interim between the second and third Bill and Ted movies, Sadler has played Heywood in The Shawshank Redemption, a member of Bonnie and Clyde’s gang in The Highwaymen, and the U.S. President in Iron Man 3, so it’s fair to say he’s been keeping himself busy.
Bill and Ted have kids
Brigette Lundy-Paine has been cast as Ted’s daughter and Samara Weaving has been cast as Bill’s daughter. Lundy-Paine is known for her roles in the Netflix series Atypical and the movie The Glass Castle, while Weaving has appeared in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and Netflix’s original horror comedy film The Babysitter. She’s also the niece of Hugo Weaving, the actor who played Agent Smith and Red Skull.
What’s sweet is that Bill and Ted have named their daughters after each other: Ted’s daughter is called Billie Logan and Bill’s daughter is called Thea Preston. These guys really are best friends.
