When will the ‘Bill and Ted’ sequel drop? Everything we know

A whopping 30 years after the initial masterpiece, Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure hit theaters, they are finally making their way back to the big screen with the next Bill and Ted sequel. The pair who taught a generation history and the value of a solid air guitar solo will be hitting the big screens again in August 2020.  We have all the news on the third movie in the time-traveling franchise, Bill & Ted Face the Music.

Can we talk about Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure?

We want nothing more than to discuss the movie that started it all, Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure. William S. Preston Esq. (Alex Winter) and Ted Theodore Logan (Keanu Reeves) are Bill and Ted, teenage best friends who need an A+ on their final project to pass the history class they’re currently failing. 

If Bill and Ted don’t achieve an A+, Ted’s father will ship him off to military school in Alaska, and their fledgling band, Wyld Stallyns, will never be a success. The two struggle mightily with the project, which is to describe how three historical figures would see modern-day San Dimas. Things look hopeless until Bill and Ted find out they aren’t the only ones who have a vested interest in their final grades. 

Bill and Ted’s adventure becomes excellent when Rufus (George Carlin) appears to them at the Circle K from a time machine disguised as a phone booth. Rufus has been sent from the year 2688, where the music of Wyld Stallyns has inspired humanity to build a utopia. The future depends on Wyld Stallyns staying together.

Using the phone booth, Bill and Ted travel through history collecting the likes of Napoleon Bonaparte, Billy the Kid, Genghis Khan and Socrates (pronounced So-crates by Bill and Ted). Their historical figures provide them a first-hand look at how history would perceive modern San Dimas, saving both history class and the world.

Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure is still a fun movie 30 years later. Bill and Ted are like sweet dumb puppies, and you just want to hug them and hope everyone is excellent to them.

Can we talk about Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey?

Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey came out in 1991, and it was a disappointing sequel. While it does have a particular cult following now, it’s generally over-complicated and convoluted.

What took so long for Bill and Ted Face the Music to happen?

In 2010 Keanu Reeves revealed that Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure writers Ed Solomon and Chris Matheson were working on a third script. In 2012 it was announced that Winter and Reeves had both read and approved the script. Unfortunately, there was no word on the third installment for another six years, while they struggled to find a  movie distributor to back production

In 2018, word came out that Bill and Ted Face the Music was finally in pre-production. The film officially began production on March 5th, 2018, with Dean Parisot (Galaxy Quest) directing and both Winter and Reeves reprising their original roles.

What’s the story for Bill and Ted Face the Music?

The third installment in the Bill and Ted franchise finds the pair still trying to create music for Wyld Stallyns. They’ve been working on that song that inspires utopia for the last thirty years.

Bill and Ted Face the Music writer Matheson explains, “They were told when they were teenagers that they were going to save reality, and they’ve been working on it the whole time. Now an emissary from the future comes and says, ‘You’ve got to do it right now. We’ve got literally 80 minutes or all of reality will come to an end.’”

Bill and Ted have help in their daughters, Bill’s Thea, played by Samara Weaving (Ready or Not) and Ted’s Billie, played by Brigette Lundy-Paine (Atypical). We’ll also see other new faces to the franchise, Jillian Bell (Workaholics) will appear as Bill and Ted’s families’ therapist. Beck Bennett (Saturday Night Live) becomes Ted’s brother, Deacon, and rapper/actor Kid Cudi will appear as himself. 

Describing Cudi’s role, Face the Music director Parisot explains, “He gets mysteriously thrown around through various times because all time and space is coming unglued.” 

One of the highlights of Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey, William Sadler, is returning as the Grim Reaper. 

Bill and Ted Face the Music is currently slated for release on August 21, 2020.