Kevin Smith thought Shannen Doherty's death would "close the book" on a 'Mallrats' sequel.
The 54-year-old filmmaker has long been working on a follow-up to the 1995 cult comedy and while he planned to shelve the project after the actress - who played Rene Mosier - lost her battle with breast cancer in July, he's revealed it could still go ahead following some promising conversations.
Asked about the sequel, which he previously revealed would be called 'Twilight of the Mallrats', Kevin told Deadline: "So, with Shannen’s passing, at that point, I was like, 'Well, I guess that kind of closes the book for us.'
"But then a couple of weeks ago, my producer was having a conversation with some folks at Universal."
Kevin explained he's been ready to go with the project for some time but studio bosses haven't been interested, so he is hopeful they will now agree to let him "take it out" and find financing elsewhere.
He said: "The thing has been for years that, of course I’d love to make the Mallrats sequel as I’ve said many times. Any time I turn in a script, the good folks at Universal are like, 'This is neither fast nor furious.' So, we never go anywhere.
"At one point, we were gonna make a $5 million version of it through one division they used to have maybe, I don’t know, I forget what it was called, but like they did smaller straight to streaming or straight to video type movies.
"And then it kind of fell apart and we’ve tried to get it out of there but they’re like, you know, Universal has never released a title. But I think we’re going back to have a discussion again about like, look, you guys are never gonna do anything with this.
"Like, but we can and would and would and would love to. So can you let us take it out? We’re not asking Universal to finance it, but it’s just like, hey, can we have it so we can go out because I can get that movie financed in a heartbeat, 'Mallrats 2'.
"So, fingers crossed the good folks at Universal go like, 'You know what? We’re never gonna do anything with this. Go ahead.'
"I mean, it’s hysterical. There are times when I’ve dealt with folks at Universal to talk about a 'Mallrats' sequel and the people I deal with are like, 'We have 'Mallrats'?' "
While the director is hopeful of making the film eventually, he won't be too upset if it never happens.
He concluded: "So, hopefully it can go forward and if it doesn’t, I get it. I’m not spoiled where it’s like, 'I get to make everything I want!'
"If I can’t make a 'Mallrats' sequel, I will live and make something else, but it looks like we’re going back at it to see if it’s possible this time, and hopefully Universal is just like, 'Yeah, go ahead and take it.' "
