As teased over the weekend, John McClane is officially back. Sunday morning, Advance Auto Parts launched a massive new advertising campaign featuring Bruce Willis’ McClane. Though fans may have been hoping for a movie announcement or something of the nature, the new commercial that serves as the start of a major campaign should whet the appetite of Die Hard fans everywhere — especially as it includes additional Die Hard cameos other than Willis.
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Throughout the extended two-minute television spot, Argyle (De’voreaux White) and Theo (Clarence Gilyard) also pop up to help (or hinder) McClane through his quest to find a new car battery. Conveniently enough, Advance is launching a new line of batteries with the brand name DIE HARD Batteries and fittingly enough, they managed to get a few of the castmates back for at least one more hurrah.
There are a few other fun Easter eggs throughout the commercial, including a time when Willis’ character is forced to climb through an air duct to escape the Advance Auto Parts store in a safe manner. See the spot in its entirety above.
Since McClane’s return has been confirmed to be a part of a marketing stunt, fans will still have to hold out hope on an eventual return to film or television. At one point, Willis and producer Lorenzo diBonaventura were developing a sixth Die Hard flick titled McClane.
The movie was set to serve as Willis’ swan song as the character though it was eventually scrapped after the merger between 20th Century Fox and Disney. It’s unclear by now if Disney plans to relaunch development on the franchise under its 20th Century Studios label.
“You can tell our intention by the fact that the title page we handed in says, ‘McCLANE’,” producer Lorenzo diBonaventura told Empire in 2018. “We want you to get invested in John McClane more than ever before.”
“I don’t know how you do Die Hard without Bruce,” he added. “The idea that he’s not very significant in this movie is not accurate at all. We are gonna explore John McClane in his twenties. But just as prominent is the 60-year-old version.”
