Kevin Smith Reveals First Clerks III Cast Script Read, Jokes About Major Death

At long last, the third installment in the Clerks movie franchise is finally heading into [...]

By Charlie Ridgely

At long last, the third installment in the Clerks movie franchise is finally heading into production. Cameras start rolling soon on Clerks III, but not before the cast gets together for the very first table read. On Monday morning, writer and director Kevin Smith revealed that the first table read will be taking place in the afternoon, with the whole cast getting together for the first time.

Smith also used the news of the Clerks III table read to throw a little shade at negative folks online, who have been tearing apart his Masters of the Universe: Revelation series for "killing" some major characters in the first episode.

"I turn 51 a week from today, as we start shooting Clerks III. But at noon, the cast reads the script aloud for the first time! Wait until [Brian O'Halloran] finds out we kill off his character in the first act! My storytelling senses tell me audiences universally love that trope..."

While the original script for Clerks saw Dante die at the end of the film, this tweet likely isn't foreshadowing the franchise's lead's exit in the first act of Clerks III. It seems like nothing more than a joke aimed at everyone upset over Masters of the Universe.

The film will be taking a page out of Smith's personal life story, as it will start with Randal surviving a heart attack, just as Smith did a couple of years ago. Randal will enlist the help of his friends to then make a movie about his life back at the convenience store where they worked all those years ago.

Brian O'Halloran and Jeff Anderson will be returning as Dante and Randal, respectively, while Smith and Jay Mewes will once again play Jay and Silent Bob. Rosario Dawson will be coming back to play Becky, a character that originated in Clerks II.

"There's a saying from the Tao that goes something like 'To be great is to go on. To go on is to go far. To go far is to return.' Thanks to Lionsgate, we get to return to where it all started with almost the whole cast that started it all," Smith said in a statement. "And for the first time since the first time we ever made a movie in 1993, we're shooting the entire flick on location in New Jersey, as an ode to both the enduring allure of cinema and the resourcefulness and lunacy of its storytellers. Years ago, Dante and Randal made me a filmmaker – so now it's time I return the favor."

Are you looking forward to Clerks III? Let us know in the comments!

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