Kevin Smith may soon be returning to his View Askewniverse once again in a sequel to Mallrats. During an episode of his Fatman Beyond podcast (via Screen Rant), Smith shared an update on a sequel to his 1995 film.
In the podcast, Smith answered a fan question about what he was most looking forward to working on in 2023, saying, "We're seeing some traction on Mallrats 2: Twighlight of the Mallrats, so... fingers crossed kids," said Smith. "We heard from the Lionsgate folks, and they were very happy with the performance of Clerks III. I'm not allowed to say anything else. [Producer Jordan Monsanto] is like, 'I can't tell you anything because then you go talk about it on your f--king show...' but things are looking good, so this could be the year that we return to the mall."
The original Mallrats was Smith's second film after his directorial debut with 1994's Clerks. The film is set in the same universe as Clerks, and featured Jason Mewes and Smith reprising their roles as Jay and Silent Bob. It was also Smith's first film to feature Jason Lee and Ben Affleck, who he has worked with on multiple films, including 1997's Chasing Amy and 1999's Dogma. It also features an appearance by legendary Marvel Comics writer Stan Lee, at a time before he regularly made cameos in Marvel movies. In Mallrats, T. S. Quint (Jeremy London) and Brodie Bruce (Jason Lee) are dumped by their girlfriends, and decide to spend the day at the mall. However, T.S. decides to win back his girlfriend Brandi Svenning (Claire Forlani) by competing on the dating game show Truth or Dare, which is being filmed at the mall. Brodie also tries to win back his girlfriend Rene Mosier (Shannen Doherty) from rival Shannon Hamilton (Affleck). After Mallrats, Jason Lee appeared as Brodie in 2001's Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.
Smith began talking about a sequel to Mallrats in 2015. In 2016, Smith said that the sequel would be a ten-episode television series instead of a feature film. Smith later returned to the View Askewniverse in 2019's Jay and Silent Bob Reboot, the first film set in the universe since 2006's Clerks II. In the film, Jason Lee reprised his role as Brodie Bruce. Smith most recently returned to the View Askewniverse in last year's Clerks III.
Smith's latest film, Clerks III, is now available to purchase digitally and on Blu-ray. A trailer for the original 1995 Mallrats film can be watched below: