Bill & Ted 4: Are Keanu Reeves And Alex Winter Returning To The Phone Booth?
Bill & Ted 4 could happen with Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter stepping aside for Samara Weaving and Brigette Lundy-Paine in the leads.
A few years ago, a Bill & Ted 4 would have felt like an impossibility. It took almost 30 years for Alex Winter’s Bill and Keanu Reeves’ Ted to make their return with this year’s Bill & Ted Face the Music, but if a new rumor is to be believed, fans might not have to wait quite as long for the return of the Wyld Stallyns.
Could we actually see a fourth movie in this franchise? It’s certainly possible and there have been some signs pointing in that direction.
BILL & TED 4 HAS BEEN RUMORED AND DISCUSSED
In a report from an unnamed source on We Got This Covered, Reeves and Winter were supposedly planning to return to the roles of Bill and Ted in the as-yet-unannounced Bill & Ted 4.
On one hand, the idea of a third film had been highly anticipated for years until it became a reality, so there’s almost certainly a demand for a fourth film. On the other hand, there’s really no other confirmation that Winter and Reeves are returning – let alone any rumblings of a fourth film – beyond this uncertain source.
The idea of Bill & Ted 4 also flies against what the creators of Bill & Ted had originally stated their intentions are with these characters. In an interview with ComicBook, the writers of the Bill & Ted trilogy, Ed Solomon and Chris Matheson, said that with the release of Bill & Ted Face the Music, the story they set out to tell is now completed.
Solomon stated, “We’re good to stand down at this point, and so we told the Bill and Ted story, and it’s complete, I think.” Matheson said, “Three is the magic number, I think. Beginning, middle, and end.” Matheson concluded, “This is the end.”
But since that original thought, things have changed a bit on that front when it comes to Bill & Ted 4.
BILL & TED 4 COULD FOCUS ON THEIR DAUGHTERS PLAYED BY SAMARA WEAVING AND BRIGETTE LUNDY-PAINE
While the first thought had been that Bill & Ted Face the Music would be the final flick in the franchise, the emergence of Samara Weaving as Theadora “Thea” Preston and Brigette Lundy-Paine as Wilhelmina “Billie” Logan could have changed that some.
Solomon later amended some of his previous thoughts about a potential sequel when he told Discussing Film that the two were so good in the third flick that they could “carry it forward” when it came to the franchise.
This makes for an interesting possibility and one that is completely viable from a moviemaking perspective. If the original duo of Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves couldn’t return, then putting their “kids” in the lead works from a franchise movement standpoint.
THE FOURTH MOVIE COULD PICK UP AFTER THE THIRD
In case you have yet to see Bill and Ted Face the Music, (our review called it a fitting finale to the series), the film concludes with Bill and Ted finally uniting the world through song after decades of trying to write the song that would save mankind.
To do this, the film goes back and forward through time and space, uniting all people, and forming a band that includes Jimi Hendrix, Louis Armstrong, and Kid Cudi.
Yet most important of course for the future of Bill & Ted 4 is the help Bill and Ted received from their two daughters. Billie Logan (Brigette Lundy-Paine) and Thea Preston (Samara Weaving) are arguably just as important to Bill & Ted Face the Music as, well, Bill and Ted.
Their own adventures help save their fathers and the world, and Lundy-Paine and Weaving are most excellent playing these characters that live up to their fathers’ legacy.
As stated, if there is any future for Bill & Ted as a franchise and a Bill & Ted 4, it would be even more likely that the series will be led by Lundy-Paine and Weaving, with the possibility of cameos by Reeves and Winter.
Considering how busy both Winter and Reeves are, it also seems unlikely it would be easy to get them back together for Bill & Ted 4. Winter has been quite busy as a documentarian in recent years and has a new documentary about Frank Zappa, simply titled Zappa, coming out later this year.
Meanwhile, Reeves’ next few years seem to be pretty spoken for and fitting in Bill & Ted 4 would be tough. Of course, John Wick isn’t done killing yet, so John Wick: Chapter 4 and Chapter 5 are also on the horizon. Plus, he’s got BRZRKR for Netflix, and Constantine 2 as well.
