Billy Crystal Reveals How Serious Talks Are for City Slickers 3, and What the Movie Should Be

In 1991 the comedy-western City Slickers arrived and not only made a huge mark on the box office, but went on to Oscar glory. Billy Crystal starred in the film which would go onto gross over $179 million at the global box office, but secure an Academy Award for his co-star (and Hollywood legend) Jack Palance. Three years later the much maligned City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly’s Gold arrived to little fanfare, but time heals all wounds and the potential for City Slickers 3 is very much alive.

Back in 2021, City Slickers star Billy Crystal revealed there had been talks about a third film in the series, though his allusion to discussions about a sequel were broad in scope and nothing has come of them officially in the time sense. Speaking with ComicBook for his upcoming Apple TV+ TV series Before, we asked Crystal if there had been any movement on the project in the time sense then, and he reiterated that talks remain ongoing.

“Yeah I mean, I don’t know how serious a talk is but there’s a little bit of a discussion about it, what would it be, you know, for me that it would have to feel like it was not a sequel but a movie that could stand on its own.”

Crystal further reminisced about his time making the first City Slickers in our interview, recalling how much fun he had filming the comedy.

“A lot of moments in City Slickers were really fun because again, like this, it was so different. Being on horseback and working with the cattle and obviously you know for me acting with Jack Palance was thrilling because he was in the first movie movie I ever saw and um to and then act with him, that was terrific.”

Crystal isn’t the only cast member from City Slickers eager to return to the franchise, with his co-star Daniel Stern previously telling ComicBook that he’d be interested in coming back to it as well.

“Well, City Slickers would be more open to it realistically because there’s a whole other new story to tell of Billy and I and [Jon] Lovitz maybe, or whoever coming back and having a late-life crisis, as opposed to a midlife crisis. Or I could see stories,” Stern said last year.

It’s unclear when or if a City Slickers 3 might make it off the ground, but considering the continued success of legacy sequels at the box office the potential is there for something unique to get made with the property.

Billy Crystal can next be seen in Before which premieres on Apple TV+ on Friday, October 25th with two episodes.