‘Back to the Future’ Cast Addresses Rumors of a Fourth Film

It’s been almost 30 years since Back to the Future III opened in theaters, but despite the conclusion to the beloved trilogy fans have held out hope that a fourth installment might be possible. Now, the cast is speaking out about why those hopes — and rumors — keep popping up.

Speaking at Fan Expo Boston, Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, and Thomas Wilson were asked why they think rumors that a Back to the Future 4 keep popping up. Wilson, who played the villain of the trilogy, Biff, joked that it was because people would watch the franchise until “it sucks”.

“Basically, I think America is saying, ‘Come on they’ve wrecked every other franchise with bad sequels, why not this one?’” Wilson said. “‘C’mon, we would watch it until it sucks.’”

There’s something to be said for Wilson’s statement that audiences would watch even if the quality of the film was arguably not there. Nostalgia is a huge trend in entertainment lately, on both the big and small screens with many movies and television series getting outright reboots or continuations many years after their runs ended. While some of the projects don’t necessarily bring in the best reviews or even best box office receipts — 2016’s Ghostbusters specifically did well but had such a high budget that it’s solid $229 million box office haul wasn’t quite enough to make it a bona fide success — audiences still show up.

And it sounds like the actors themselves would show up for a Back to the Future 4. Lloyd, who played Doc, told the Phoenix New Times last month that he’d be on board for either a sequel or a full reboot provided they had the right idea.

“I think, really, the most important thing is if they can come up with the right idea,” Lloyd said. “I think that’s the challenge is to come up with something that really is as good as the originals. I suppose it could happen. I have not heard that they’re looking for that, if they’ve made up their minds… ‘hey, here’s something we could do,’ and they believed in it then they might bet going on it.”

However, even if the right idea presented itself it’s not particularly likely that Back to the Future 4 is going to happen. As Fox noted at Fan Expo Boston, his Marty McFly could only return if trilogy co-creator Bob Gale, as gatekeeper of the franchise, was on board and it doesn’t seem that’s happening anytime soon. Director Robert Zemeckis recently told The Telegraph that a remake or more can’t happen until both he and Gale are dead.

“Oh, God no,” Zemeckis said. “That can’t happen until both Bob and I are dead. And then I’m sure they’ll do it, unless there’s a way our estates can stop it.”

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