Actor and writer Wil Wheaton has been discussing his gratitude about getting to go on a nationwide tour pegged to the 40th anniversary of his classic 1986 movie “Stand by Me.”
Directed by the late Rob Reiner, the coming-of-age drama movie — which is based on Stephen King’s 1982 novella “The Body” — starred Wheaton, Jerry O’Connell, Corey Feldman, and the late River Phoenix.
Per IMDb, the movie’s plot is as follows: “A writer recounts a childhood journey with his friends to view the body of a boy who went missing in the woods.”
Starting last year, Wheaton, 53, O’Connell, 52, and Feldman, 55, embarked on the tour to celebrate four decades of “Stand by Me.” He spoke to People about how grateful he was for the opportunity, but also about how Reiner’s passing inevitably tainted the experience.
Wil Wheaton Says He, Jerry O’Connell & Corey Feldman ‘Picked Up Right Where We Left Off’
Getty“Stand by Me” star Wil Wheaton reunited with Jerry O’Connell and Corey Feldman last fall on what he described as a “really wonderful” nationwide tour tied to the 40th anniversary of the coming-of-age classic. At the 2026 BAFTA Student Awards on Friday, July 17, the “Star Trek” actor told People that it was like they had never been apart.
Wheaton told the publication, “Jerry and Corey and I felt like we just kind of picked up right where we left off.”
However, as much as he enjoyed and was grateful for the experience, the passing of director Rob Reiner soured it somewhat.
The actor, who played Gordie Lachance in “Stand by Me,” said, “We went from being so excited and so on top of the world to that unbelievable loss, right before all of us were just convinced that we’d be seeing him this year, that we would be getting together to celebrate the movie.”
He added, “I’m just so grateful that we had done those shows together right before so that we had a place to land, the three of us, with the only other two people in the world who were really going to be able to understand what the rest of us were experiencing.”
Per the event’s official website, the “Stand by Me” tour is ongoing. However, the next scheduled dates aren’t until November. The next one is at the Louisville Palace in Louisville, Kentucky, on Friday, November 13, followed by another a day later at the Schuster Center in Dayton, Ohio, on Saturday, November 14.
The event enables movie fans to experience “Stand by Me,” on the big screen once more. An intimate chat with Wheaton, O’Connell, and Feldman follows.
There are other ways to see Wil Wheaton this year, however.
Wil Wheaton Is Back on Television in 2026
GettyAfter a couple of years away from both the small and big screens, Wil Wheaton is back this year.
His most recent credits include the likes of the animated “Star Trek: Prodigy” series in 2024 and the 2022 documentary movie “In Search of Tomorrow,” on which he served as the narrator.
However, you can see him in the upcoming “The Big Bang Theory” spin-off series “Stuart Fails to Save the Universe” and the epic adventure web series “The Legend of Maya.” He’s reprising his role as a fictional version of himself in the former. In the latter, he plays a character called Varian.
He has already starred in this year’s television special, “The Moof Milkers: A Live Staged Reading of Star Wars – The Force Awakens.” He played the iconic C-3P0 in that one.
We hope the rest of the “Stand by Me” 40th anniversary tour is a joyful experience for Wheaton and his castmates.
Wil Wheaton’s filmography info was courtesy of IMDb.
