Director Rob Reiner has said he expects the long-awaited Spinal Tap II to be released in the “spring or summer” of 2025.
The beloved 1984 mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap is considered one of the greatest comedy films of all time, with Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer portraying the hapless heavy metal trio.
All three actors are set to return in the much-anticipated sequel, alongside director Reiner (When Harry Met Sally, Stand By Me, The Princess Bride), who will also revive his own role as the fictional director Marty DiBergi within the film.
Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer in ‘This Is Spinal Tap’,1984 (Picture: Everett Collection Inc / Alamy Stock Photo)
The sequel was first announced in 2022, and in a new interview with Deadline, Reiner has given a significant update on the film’s progress.
“It’s going good,” he said. “Our first screening for our family and friends will be probably in August, and then sometime in September we’ll start showing it to distributors, and we’re hoping to have it out sometime late spring or early summer of next year.”
He added that filming is currently wrapping up in New Orleans.
Scraps of information about the film have been dripping out for the past couple of years, most recently when it emerged that Metallica‘s Lars Ulrich and Red Hot Chili Peppers‘ Chad Smith were set to make appearances.
Given Spinal Tap’s legendary track record on the long-term employment of their drummers, fans can probably expect those to be little more than fleeting cameos.
Other names confirmed for Spinal Tap II include returns for Fran Drescher and Paul Shaffer, as well as new names John Michael Higgins, Chris Addison, Kerry Godliman and Nina Conti.
This follows the previous news that Paul McCartney and Elton John will appear in the film, as confirmed by Reiner himself.
Such is the cultural legacy of the original This Is Spinal Tap, bands continue to be haunted by the prospect of falling into the film’s trap. Talking Heads, for example, recently spoke about the effort they made to prevent Stop Making Sense from being “too Spinal Tap”.
Meanwhile, Spinal Tap’s Derek Smalls (Shearer) released his first new single in five years, ‘Must Crush Barbie’. He described Greta Gerwig’s smash hit film as “the embodiment of lukewarm water”, and sings in the song about the film having “too much pink”, which he calls a waste of “film and ink”.
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