Will There Ever Be Another 'Back To The Future' Movie?
With other '80s films having proven ripe for re-inspiration, one can't help but wonder about another entry in the "Back to the Future" trilogy to make it more of a "saga."
In the era of reboots and reimaginings — from USA Network and SYFY's "Chucky" to David Gordon Green's "Halloween" trilogy and Peacock's upcoming "Pitch Perfect: Bumper in Berlin" series — seemingly nobody can watch a film or show without immediately wondering about what might come next. That can certainly be said for the "Back to the Future" trilogy, which is currently airing on USA Network. The 1985 sci-fi classic "Back to the Future" spawned two sequels — the aptly named "Back to the Future II" (1989) and "Back to the Future III" (1990) — with all three films focusing on the unlikely friendship between teenager Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) and disgraced nuclear physicist "Doc" Brown (Christopher Lloyd).
With other '80s films having proven ripe for re-inspiration — the aforementioned "Chucky" and "Halloween," as well as "Ghostbusters," "Top Gun," "Conan the Barbarian," "Dune," "Road House" ... we could go on, but we'll stop there for sanity's sake — one can't help but wonder about another entry in the "Back to the Future" trilogy to make it more of a "saga."
Will there ever be a "Back to the Future IV"? Well, it turns out there's an answer to that.
In 2020, "Collider" spoke with trilogy co-writer Bob Gale. Among the many topics covered was, of course, the possibility of future entries in the franchise.
"We told a complete story with the trilogy. If we went back and made another one, we’d have Michael J. Fox, who will be 60 next year, and he has Parkinson’s Disease. Do we want to see Marty McFly at age 60 with Parkinson’s Disease? Did we want to see him at age 50 with Parkinson’s Disease? I would say ‘No, you don’t want to see that.’ And you don’t want to see 'Back to the Future' without Michael J. Fox," Gale said.
He continued: "People say, ‘Well, do it with somebody else.’ Really? Who are you going to get? All you’re gonna do is beg comparisons to the originals, and you’re not going to match up. And we’ve seen this repeatedly with sequels that go back to the well after many, many years, and they go, ‘Ah, well, "The Phantom Menace," maybe my life would have been better if I hadn’t seen it.’ There are a lot of extra sequels like that. We didn’t want to be those guys who did a movie that was basically a money grab. Universal says to us, ‘You guys would make a whole lot of money,’ but we’re like, ‘Well, we’ve already made a whole lot of money with these movies, and we like them just the way they are. And as proud parents, we’re not going to sell our kids into prostitution.’”
Additionally, Gale said, "We have an understanding with Spielberg and Amblin that there would never be another 'Back to the Future' movie without our blessing or being involved. So it’s not going to happen."
While it doesn't seem like we'll ever be seeing a "Back to the Future" Part 4, fans can still enjoy the original trilogy. You can watch all three films on USA Network and stream them on Peacock.