Mel Brooks Made Sure ‘Spaceballs’ Sequel Was Filmed At Ludicrous Speed for One Specific Reason

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Mel Brooks

Mel Brooks wasn’t taking any chances when it came to the highly anticipated sequel to “Spaceballs.”

During the Melrose Place panel at 90s Con at the Connecticut Convention Center in Hartford, Conn., on Sunday, Oct. 18, Daphne Zuniga, who played Princess Vespa in the original movie, opened up about what it’s been like working with the comedy mastermind. And revealed why Brooks made sure to expedite the filming process.

“We filmed Spaceballs: The New One that Mel Brooks worked with the writers on. He’s a big influence in it. He filmed his part already before we shot. It was his idea: ‘You better film me now because I’m 100.’ So we did,” she said. “It opens April 23rd of next year. Rick Moranis is back as Lord Dark Helmet, and Bill Pullman is back as my husband. His real son, Lewis Pullman, plays our son, the prince, and Keke Palmer is in it. It was great fun.”

Rick Moranis Talks About His Return To The Screen

Rick Moranis took a major step back from acting, but he is returning to the screen to reprise his role as Dark Helmet. And in a July 2026 appearance at Comic-Con, he expressed his excitement about reuniting with the incredible cast.

“Well, I kept having to pinch myself because I would look at Daphne [Zuniga] and Bill [Pullman] and George Wyner. Earl Sanders. And then there were all these young people,” Moranis said. “And I realized I was their age 39 years ago when we made this. And here we are now and my kids are the age of this.”

“I felt like I was in a time warp, but I was in that outfit and wearing the helmet. And it just felt very strange to be honest with you. But it started to feel really good, and I really started to love it,” he added.

The Reasoning Behind The Spaceballs Sequel’s Name

Director Josh Greenbaum spoke with Mashable Entertainment Editor Kristy Puchko in an interview earlier this year, and was asked a very important question: why wasn’t the sequel called Spaceballs 2: The Search for More Money?

For fans of the popular movie that hit screens in 1987, that clever name was coined by Yogurt, who parodies Master Yoda’s character, who is played by Brooks. But instead, they went with the title, “Spaceballs: The New One.”

“If you didn’t see our announcement video, Mel Brooks himself found the money. It was in his basement, and so he doesn’t need any more money at this point,” Greenbaum said. “”We really love the idea of obviously there’s the old one, and now this is the new one. We like the joke that this is, you know, ‘It’s just like the old one, but newer.’ So, this is the new one.

“We obviously discussed it with Mel,” he added, “but we all felt like, as great as that joke [from the first movie] was, paying that joke off? You’ll see when you see the new one why it makes sense for this one to be called that.”