Rick Moranis is finally returning to Spaceballs — and judging by the reaction inside Hall H at San Diego Comic-Con, fans have been waiting a long time for this moment.
The actor, who reprises his iconic role as Dark Helmet in Spaceballs: The New One, received a standing ovation Friday after making a fittingly ridiculous entrance, according to AP. Rather than walking onstage, Moranis hid in the audience beneath Dark Helmet’s oversized helmet while soldiers from the original film combed through the crowd with an oversized comb in search of him.
The appearance also gave Moranis a chance to answer the question he’s heard from fans for years.
“This came along at the right time,” he said of the sequel, which arrives in theaters next April. “It just felt like this is it. … It is the best decision I ever made. It’s like family to me.”
Moranis was joined by original cast member Daphne Zuniga, director Josh Greenbaum, writer and actor Josh Gad, writers Dan Hernandez and Benji Samit, and newcomers Keke Palmer and Lewis Pullman, whose roles remain under wraps.
Palmer said she knew the movie had something special the first time she cracked open the script.
“It was so funny that I kept being like, ‘Oh my God! Can you believe they said that?’” she recalled.
Pullman had a similar reaction.
“I read it and I was like, ‘Damn it. This is so good. … This is one of the funniest scripts I’ve ever read.’ I rarely laugh out loud when I’m reading scripts,” he said. “I would be a fool. It would be weird if I didn’t do it.”
Although Mel Brooks and Bill Pullman weren’t at Comic-Con in person, they still popped in via a prerecorded video message. Fans also got an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at Brooks recording dialogue in the booth, reuniting with Pullman and Zuniga, and a first peek at the film’s teaser trailer.
Gad also confirmed he’ll be playing a mawg in the sequel, though he made it clear he isn’t stepping into John Candy‘s role as Barf. Instead, he said Spaceballs: The New One will pay tribute to Candy and several other original cast members who have since died, including Joan Rivers, Dom DeLuise, and Dick Van Patten.
And because no Spaceballs event would be complete without taking aim at Hollywood, the panel wrapped with a parody of sprawling superhero franchises. Hall H’s wraparound screens displayed “The Almighty Schwartz Saga,” a fake roadmap imagining more than 11 phases of Spaceballs sequels in a not-so-subtle send-up of Marvel‘s ever-expanding cinematic universe.