40 Years Later, the Sequel We've All Waited For

Rob Reiner to direct follow-up to 1984's 'Spinal Tap,' with Shearer, Guest, McKean all on board
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted May 13, 2022 11:56 AM CDT
Spinal Tap Sequel We've Waited for Is Here
This photo shows, from left, Harry Shearer, Christopher Guest, and Michael McKean as members of the spoof British band Spinal Tap, created for Rob Reiner's 1984 mock documentary "This Is Spinal Tap."   (AP Photo/MGM Home Entertainment)

Get ready to turn it up to 11, because there's a Spinal Tap sequel in the works. Rob Reiner will once more take the director's seat in the follow-up to his 1984 mockumentary, This Is Spinal Tap, with Michael McKean, Harry Shearer, and Christopher Guest all set to reprise their roles at the center of "the nucleus of England's loudest and sauciest heavy-metal band," per Deadline. "For so many years, we said, 'Nah,'" Reiner, 75, tells the outlet. "It wasn't until we came up with the right idea how to do this. You don't want to just do it, to do it. You want to honor the first one and push it a little further with the story."

Reiner, who also stars in the movie as filmmaker Marty DiBergi, says the plot will revolve around the band getting "thrown back together" and having to perform one more concert together due to some legal issues, despite "a lot of bad blood" that's gone down between them over the years. People notes the original has become "part of the fabric of popular culture," earning a designation in 2002 by the Library of Congress for being a "culturally, historically, and aesthetically significant" film, per Deadline. One person who will be missing from the sequel: Ric Parnell, who played Spinal Tap drummer Mick Shrimpton, died earlier this month at the age of 70, per Pitchfork. The movie is set for a March 2024 opening. (More This Is Spinal Tap stories.)

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