By Chris Snellgrove
| Published
Sci-fi is one of those genres where beloved properties never truly die. Instead, they beget sequels, prequels, requels, and reboots. However, one of the most beloved films in this genre is one that will never get a sequel despite the passionate requests of audiences and producers alike. According to co-creator Bob Gale, Back to the Future 4 is never going to happen, and he’s taken to saying just two words to anyone who asks about it: “f*** you.”
No Back To The Future Sequel
Recently, he attended the Saturn Awards, giving him a chance to reconnect with Christopher Lloyd and Lea Thompson. Seeing Bob Gale alongside these Back to the Future icons prompted an interviewer to ask the screenwriter what more he hoped to accomplish creatively after the success of Back to the Future and its two sequels. He said that everyone always asks when they are going to start working on Back to the Future 4 before giving his typical response: “We say, ‘F*** you,’ you quote me on that!”
To be fair, Bob Gale has historically been very clear that another Back to the Future sequel isn’t going to happen. Now that he is in the midst of what he describes as “the best third act of life that anybody could imagine,” he has a very special reason for not wanting to return to that cinematic universe onscreen. These days, he has mostly forsaken filmmaking in favor of helping the Back to the Future musical he created tour the entire world.
According to Bob Gale, “We made three terrific movies and people kept asking for more Back to the Future,” so he decided to give fans something very different from a traditional sequel. At first glance, a musical adaptation of the first film may sound pretty crazy, but musical adaptations of popular genre films have been thriving in recent years. Beetlejuice, Heathers, Mean Girls, and many more have all enjoyed hit musical adaptations, so why not everyone’s favorite film about going back in time?
More About The Musical
Bob Gale’s wry sense of humor was on full display when he discussed how he felt about working on a Back to the Future musical rather than a sequel. When talking about how the musical would be going on tour in North America, Australia, Germany, and Japan as well as Royal Caribbean Cruises, he opined that “I’m going to be doing [Back to the Future] for the rest of my life.” That’s not exactly a depressing thought for this famous writer, though: “Who could ask for anything more?” he asked.
Throughout the years, both Bob Gale and Back to the Future director Robert Zemeckis have been very adamant that there will never be another sequel. Because of that, Gale’s comments, while amusing, aren’t exactly as surprising. What is surprising, though, is that he has embraced this musical adaptation so wholeheartedly.
After all this time, it turns out that he didn’t completely hate the idea of returning to this world. He simply wanted to do something different than what he had done before, and we really trust his judgment on this.
After all, who better than the writer of Back to the Future to be very cautious about getting stuck (creatively speaking) in the past?
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
