Rick Moranis gets Comic-Con ovation for Spaceballs return
Rick Moranis appeared at San Diego Comic-Con for Spaceballs: The New One, where fans greeted his Dark Helmet comeback with an ovation.
By Bianca Rossi · Entertainment Editor
3 min read
Rick Moranis’ Spaceballs return got the full Hall H treatment Friday at San Diego Comic-Con, where the actor was met with a standing ovation during a panel for the sequel, Spaceballs: The New One.
Rotten Tomatoes posted video from the room showing the crowd rising for Moranis, who is set to play Dark Helmet again in the 2027 film. The appearance marked a rare public movie-promotion moment for the actor, whose last big-screen role was in 1997’s Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves.
Rolling Stone reported that Spaceballs: The New One will be Moranis’ first on-screen, non-voice acting role in two decades. The film is due in April 2027.
Why is Rick Moranis returning for Spaceballs?
Moranis told the Comic-Con audience that he was not exactly done with acting, joking, “I really wasn’t retired; I was just negotiating,” according to video shared by Variety. He added, “This came along right at the right time.”
The actor has spoken before about being selective. In a 2015 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Moranis said he had taken “a break” that became a longer one, but said he remained open to film or television work if a project interested him. He said at the time that a cameo in the Ghostbusters reboot did not appeal to him.
Moranis stepped away from the movie business in 1997 after his wife died of breast cancer, choosing to raise his children outside the spotlight, Rolling Stone reported. He continued to take voice roles in animated projects over the years.
Who is in Spaceballs: The New One?
The Comic-Con panel featured Moranis alongside returning Spaceballs actor Daphne Zuniga, who played Princess Vespa in the 1987 original. New cast members Josh Gad, Keke Palmer and Lewis Pullman were also on the panel.
Mel Brooks, who created the original Spaceballs, appeared via a prerecorded video message for the crowd. Brooks is also set to appear in the sequel, returning in his dual roles as Yogurt and President Skroob, according to Rolling Stone.
Bill Pullman, who starred in the original as Lone Starr, was not at the panel, but Rolling Stone reported he will reprise the role in the sequel. Lewis Pullman, his son, is among the new cast members.
Director Kevin Smith moderated the panel and greeted Moranis with a tribute of his own. The Hollywood Reporter wrote that the audience chanted “Rick! Rick!” when Moranis took the stage, and Smith told him, “You made our childhoods better.”
How did the Spaceballs sequel come together?
A separate return had once seemed possible for Moranis. In 2020, it was announced that he would act in a Josh Gad-led reboot of Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, but that project did not move forward, according to Rolling Stone.
Gad later pitched a Spaceballs sequel to Brooks, and Moranis signed on. Variety’s Comic-Con video also showed Moranis saying he had started talking about a Spaceballs sequel back in 1989.
For fans of the original parody, the Comic-Con moment delivered the cleanest signal yet that Dark Helmet is back on the radar. Spaceballs: The New One is scheduled for release in April 2027.
This story draws on original reporting from Rolling Stone.