Young Guns 3 With Emilio Estevez Teased By Writer

Screenwriter John Fusco has teased Young Guns 3 with Emilio Estevez. The original 1988 action drama Young Guns was a semi-historical western detailing the late 1870s rise of legendary outlaw William H. Bonney, aka “Billy the Kid.” It was written by Fusco, directed by Christopher Cain, and starred a bevy of ’80s young Hollywood stars including Emilio Estevez (The Outsiders), Kiefer Sutherland (The Lost Boys), Lou Diamond Phillips (La Bamba), and Charlie Sheen (Wall Street). Young Guns also featured legendary film icons Jack Palance, star of famed spaghetti westerns The Mercenary and Compañeros, and Terrence Stamp, best known as General Zod in Superman and Superman 2.

A box office hit, Young Guns spawned a sequel, Young Guns II, in 1990. The second installment, also written by Fusco, was directed by Geoff Murphy and reunited the surviving band of “Regulators” from the first film, and added to them the talents of Christian Slater (True Romance), Alan Ruck (Ferris Bueller’s Day Off), and Balthazar Getty (Lord of the Flies). Despite mixed reviews from critics, both Young Guns and Young Guns 2 were commercial successes, with their influences extending beyond just that of film. Bon Jovi’s 1990 debut solo rock album featured songs inspired by the Young Guns sequel as well as the movie’s theme song, “Blaze of Glory,” just as Warren G and Nate Dogg’s 1994 rap classic “Regulate” contained sound bites taken from the original picture.

A recent Twitter post from Fusco suggested that a third Young Guns movie is finally one the way. He posted a mock film poster titled: “Young Guns III Alias: Billy the Kid.” The poster is centered with an image of Estevez as Billy and Fusco captions: “Emilio Estevez and I are excited to be collaborating on this continuation of the Billy the Kid saga – and you’re going to love where it goes.” You can check out the tweet below:

Fusco also tags the previous film stars in his post — Phillips, Sutherland, and Slater, as well as Vincent D’Onofrio, Harry Knowles, Chris Pratt, and Warren G, who may play some part. The image carries the tagline “Some Legends Never Die” and the word “Young” in the title is noticeably riddled out with bullet holes. This is particularly self-aware, since it’s been more than 30 years since the last film, and the original stars are all aged well into their 50s. The image does show a host of other characters surrounding Billy, indicating that a cast featuring returning stars from the first two films will likely be bolstered by more contemporary talent.

Rebooted ’80s franchises are in as high demand as ever with films like Bill & Ted Face the Music, Coming 2 America, and the Cobra Kai series on Netflix, making this the perfect time for a third roundup for Young Guns. It only then poses the nagging question of how this sequel would be able to take place, seeing as most of the Regulators were killed by the end of Young Guns 2, with Billy, himself, hunted down and shot by his deputized former “pal” Pat Garrett (William Peterson). De-aging technology, although not without its detractors, has become more refined over the years in films like The Irishman and the recent season finale of Disney+’s The Mandalorian, so Young Guns 3could potentially utilize the same for its 50-something cast and be a “sidequel” of an untold story occurring between the first 2 films. Only time will tell what the exact plan is, as more details are inevitably revealed.

Source: John Fusco

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