Originally published at: Spaceballs Combs Hall H for Rick Moranis - People of Con
Author: Winter Adair
A short time ago in a city not terribly far from my native Los Angeles, fans from far and wide gathered on Friday, July 24, 2026, at San Diego Comic-Con’s famed Hall H to bear witness to an exciting new panel for one of my most anticipated films of 2027.
“Spaceballs: The Comic-Con Panel” opened with a video introduction from Mel Brooks. At 100 years old, he understandably couldn’t make the trip to San Diego, but his pre-recorded message thanked fans for decades of support and for egging him on until he finally made another Spaceballs movie. Brooks will also reprise his roles as Yogurt and President Skroob in the sequel.
Brooks then handed things over to surprise moderator Kevin Smith, who introduced Hall H to the cast and crew of Spaceballs: The New One. The lineup included director Josh Greenbaum, writers Dan Hernandez and Benji Samit, co-writer and star Josh Gad, original cast member Daphne Zuniga, and new cast members Keke Palmer and Lewis Pullman.
Original cast member Bill Pullman does reprise his role as Lone Starr in the new film, but he was unable to attend in person. He appeared in a pre-recorded video of his own, warmly recognizing the rest of the cast as his “family” while conspicuously shunning his own son, Lewis, bringing some laughs from the crowd and onstage.
Then came the moment Hall H will be talking about for years. When Smith called Rick Moranis’s name, nobody took the stage. In a beautifully timed bit, Smith proposed that they comb the audience, a callback to the original film’s “comb the desert” gag, in which the Spaceballs drag a literal giant hair comb across the sand. The house lights came up. Actors in full Spaceballs costumes appeared in the aisles hauling that same enormous black comb behind them, and the room came undone. Smith began pointing out audience members wearing Dark Helmet’s iconic oversized helmet, one after another. The last one, sitting mere inches from me, was Moranis himself. The crowd went absolutely wild, and I burst into tears.
Spaceballs: The New One marks Moranis’s first live-action film role since Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves in 1997. He stepped away from acting in the 1990s to raise his children and has been largely out of the public eye ever since, though his fame never dimmed. From SCTV to Spaceballs to Honey, I Shrunk the Kids to Ghostbusters to The Flintstones, he has remained a fan-favorite staple of comedy for four decades. Friday wasn’t only his first Hall H appearance—it was his first Comic-Con, period.
In a spoof of the phase charts Marvel Studios has made a Hall H staple, the team unveiled a graphic sprawling across the room’s wraparound screens, mapping out more than eleven phases of “The Almighty Schwartz Saga,” a cinematic universe stretching further into the future than any reasonable person would attempt. The list of “future” Spaceballs titles included Spaceballs: The Schwartz Awakens, Spaceballs: Super Duper Secret Wars, Dark Helmet Origins 3, and my personal favorite, Spaceballs: The Musical.
Josh Gad addressed one question head-on: He is not replacing the late, great John Candy as Barf. He’ll instead play a different Mawg, Barf’s species, and he described the film as a love letter to Candy. Gad noted that the sequel will also honor other original cast members who have since passed away, including Joan Rivers (Dot Matrix), Dom DeLuise (Pizza the Hutt), and Dick Van Patten (King Roland).
Keke Palmer also could not share much about her character beyond the fact that her name is Destiny. The official synopsis identifies her as a mysterious palace advisor who joins Vespa’s undisciplined son, Prince Starburst, played by Lewis Pullman, on a quest to find Lone Starr, Yogurt, and other legacy characters.
The hour closed with a short teaser trailer that was previously shown only at CinemaCon. The trailer was presented with a voiceover humorously walking the crowd through the unfinished shots and incomplete visual effects. Even in rough form, it was enough to fill the room with uproarious laughter. Without providing specific spoilers, I will share that the teaser features George Wyner reprising his role as Colonel Sandurz, Dark Helmet’s long-suffering lackey. This addition had the crowd cheering for more, which they would soon get. As the panel closed out, Smith advised us all that if we took the raffle tickets given to us by the staff to the Panel Premiums room at the Grand Hyatt, we could redeem them for an exclusive Spaceballs: The New One poster.
I experienced a lot of incredible panels this year at Comic-Con, but I have to admit, this one took the cake.
May the Schwartz Be With You!
Read Amazon MGM Studios’ official film overview and synopsis. And be sure to check out Spaceballs: The New One, arriving in theaters April 23, 2027.