Kevin Smith Reveals Clerks 3 Script Details Just Days Ahead Of Jay & Silent Bob Reboot Premiere

Fans of the “View Askewniverse” have a lot to be happy about these days. Not only is the Jay & Silent Bob Reboot set to premiere this month, but writer and director Kevin Smith is already revealing plot details for his next project, Clerks 3.

Talking with The Wrap, Smith said that the plot of his next film will revolve around Randal (Jeff Anderson) recovering from a heart attack, which is inspired by Smith’s own near-death experience. In 2018, Smith suffered a severe heart attack, known as “the widowmaker,” but doctors were somehow able to save his life.

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3 CLERKS! Thanks to the good folks at @zscentertainment and @leeloomultiprops, I got to see Randal! #JeffAnderson, @jaymewes, and I spent Saturday signing stuff and catching up, seeing so much movie merch that’s been made over the last 25 years (hit the Leloo site for sweet signed skateboards)! But even better than that? We talked about making a movie together. It’ll be a movie that concludes a saga. It’ll be a movie about how you’re never too old to completely change your life. It’ll be a movie about how a decades-spanning friendship finally confronts the future. It’ll be a movie that brings us back to the beginning – a return to the cradle of civilization in the great state of #newjersey. It’ll be a movie that stars Jeff and @briancohalloran, with me and Jay in supporting roles. And it’ll be a movie called CLERKS III! To be great is to go on. To go on is to go far. To go far is to return. And we’re all gonna return to the scene of the crime! This won’t be the old script we almost made a few years back: this is a completely new screenplay that I just started writing last night! And so far, it’s like a dream come true! After mending fences with @benaffleck earlier this year, I was hoping for a chance to do the same with Jeff – so huge thanks to Leeloo Multiprops for getting us all in the same room. But the biggest thanks ever go to Jeff, for being receptive to the idea at all. This means I’m gonna get to play with my two favorite inaction figures again: Dante & Randal! Two weeks from the debut of @jayandsilentbob Reboot (on @fathomevents screens 10/15 & 10/17, link in my bio), I’m ecstatic to announce our imminent return to Quick Stop! So I assure you: we’re open! #KevinSmith #clerks3 #jaymewes #jayandsilentbob #danteandrandal #quickstop #leeloomultiprops #indiefilm #clerks

A post shared by Kevin Smith (@thatkevinsmith) on Oct 1, 2019 at 5:51am PDT

Clerks 3 will begin with Randal suffering a heart attack and nearly losing his life, and then the story will follow him as he has a midlife crisis and brings his best friend Dante (Brian O’Halloran) along for the ride. From there, the story goes completely meta, and Kevin Smith fans will be surprised about what he has planned.

“Randal has a heart attack, decides that he came so close to death, and his life has meant nothing, there’s nobody to memorialize him, he has no family or anything like that,” Smith explained. “And in the recovery, while under fentanyl, he comes to the conclusion at mid-life, having almost died, having worked in a movie store his whole life and watched other people’s movies, he tells Dante, I think we need to make a movie. So Dante and Randal make Clerks. That’s the story of Clerks 3.”

Smith says that this script will reflect a lot of things that happened in his own life, like Randal turning his friends and their stories into movie characters and having to film in black-and-white like Smith did in 1994 with his first film. There will also be movie-within-a-movie scenes.

The 49-year-old says that he is going to bring his boys right back to where they brought him. And, he says the story pretty much writes itself because he lived it 25 years ago. Smith called the story “warm” and “f***ing wonderful,” and he had the benefit of cherry-picking his favorite stories and moments from that time in his life.

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The fine folks at @Saban_films put up a l’il outdoor advertising for @jayandsilentbob Reboot, so I took my kid and co-star @harleyquinnsmith to the Valley (Magnolia and Van Nuys) and snapped some selfies! I love a movie billboard, and I’ve only ever had 3 in Los Angeles: one for Mallrats, one for Zack and Miri Make a Porno, and now this one for #JayAndSilentBobReboot! The release of our film is a bit untraditional, so seeing this roadside barker made me feel like I made a “real movie” too! @wearebond art by @the_hsu held up great in giant form and I couldn’t be more thankful to see me and @jaymewes looking out over the Valley, (beside my kid and @jenschwalbach too)! In 6 days, you can come see our new flick on @fathomevents or @cineplexevents screens everywhere (Tickets at the link in my bio)! I love this film and all the people in it, and I hope you will too! #KevinSmith #harleyquinnsmith #jayandsilentbob #billboards #sabanfilms #fathomevents #cineplexevents

A post shared by Kevin Smith (@thatkevinsmith) on Oct 9, 2019 at 8:09am PDT

Smith is excited about reliving everything and putting it into Randal and Dante’s hands, and he says the movie will be “funny and poignant.” He also made it clear that this script is nothing like the version that he performed with friends at a live read in New Jersey earlier this year.

This one is different because he and Anderson have reconciled after being estranged for a few years, and you can’t have a Clerks movie without Randal.

The Jay & Silent Bob Reboot opens in theaters via Fathom Events on October 15th and 17th. Then, Kevin Smith and Jason Mewes will travel the country on a 62-city tour for the Jay & Silent Bob Reboot Roadshow.