The Original, Darker Clerks III We Never Got

Courtesy of LionsGate

Clerks III came out on September 13, 2022, and was the recent film in the View Askewinverse once again starring Brian O’Halloran and Jeff Anderson as Dante Hicks and Randal Graves, as well as Jason Mewes and Kevin Smith as Jay and Silent Bob. Smith, who began this series of movies with Clerks back in 1994, once again directed. The movie was about Randal having a heart attack and wanting to make a movie about his life working at the Quick Stop. The movie got a mixed response, with some fans loving it, some enjoying it, and some disappointed in how the film ended, especially for Dante. It was definitely one of Smith’s more emotional films. What some fans might not realize is that Clerks III was originally going to be more bizarre, darker, sadder, and likely more divisive. What was the original plan? Why did it change, and how did it change?

Kevin Smith wanted to make Clerks III since 2012. At first, he toyed with the idea of making it a Broadway play after watching the play Seminar. He later decided to make it a movie later in the year. At first, it was tough to make as there were audit disputes with The Weinstein Company at the time that made it hard for some cast and crew members to return. The Weinstein Company produced Clerks II back in the mid-2000s. Smith revealed years later Harvey Weinstein used to stiff him from royalties from the original Clerks and wanted to avoid the same situation with Clerks II, which prompted the audit. He was even toying with the idea of crowdfunding the movie. Smith would start writing the script in early 2013.

In the original script, Clerks III would start off with Dante, Randal, Jay, and Silent Bob being arrested due to Jay and Silent Bob getting busted for drugs. As they are brought to the police station, Hurricane Sandy, the infamous 2012 hurricane that hit New Jersey and other nearby states hard, would be happening during this time and would destroy the Quick Stop. Randal would have a nervous breakdown in response. He would later go to a nearby movie theater to wait for an upcoming movie called Ranger Danger, which would be the View Askewinverse’s equivalent to a heavily anticipated superhero movie. However, Ranger Danger would not be coming out for another year.

Randal would soon discover he’s not the only one waiting a year in line for Ranger Danger. In response, Randal would make his own version of the Quick Stop. This would grow into a little village with Randal as the unofficial mayor. On Dante’s side of things, he would be a single father raising his and Becky’s daughter. The daughter was rumored to have been deaf and a prodigy in hockey but it was never confirmed. Between the events of Clerks II and Clerks III, Becky, who was played by Rosario Dawson in Clerks II, would have been killed off, possibly during a break-in. It’s been heavily rumored that Jay and Silent Bob were the ones who accidentally shot her. Dante would also have cancer and only have months to live.

The Ranger Danger film would finally premiere in the film’s third act with the characters attending, but get interrupted by a group of masked gunmen shooting in the movie theater. Dante would protect his daughter and get shot, dying in his daughter and Randal’s arms. The film would end with Randal adopting Dante’s daughter. There were also rumors that Randal might get a love interest in the film.

The cast wasn’t particularly thrilled with the plot, particularly Jeff Anderson. Jeff Anderson was already hesitant to do Clerks II back in the mid-2000s until Kevin Smith convinced him to return. This time, Smith couldn’t convince him with this version of Clerks III. Jeff said that when he read the script, it felt like it didn’t belong with the previous Clerks movies and was too dark. Jeff also felt Clerks II perfectly ended the Clerks series, and a third film wasn’t necessary. He felt they were lucky they got it right in Clerks II and didn’t want to press their luck. It didn’t help that “Hollywood accounting” soured his experience in the industry, and he was content to retire from acting.

Brian O’Halloran also believed this wasn’t the right direction to take the Clerks characters in. He felt it was more like Kevin Smith wanting to make a statement on where we were as a society, particularly with the theater shooting scenes, and a Clerks movie wasn’t the right place to do that. In 2017, Kevin Smith announced Clerks III was canceled, revealing that one of the main actors, Jeff Anderson, refused to come back. Smith later realized how far off this idea for a Clerks III was and was glad it was never made.  He would do a live reading of the original script in 2019 in Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey, at the First Avenue Playhouse.

Clerks III wouldn’t be canceled for long, though. On February 25, 2018, Kevin Smith had a widow-maker heart attack. This pushed Kevin to not only bring Clerks III back into the fold, but rewrite it. Now, the plot would be for Randal to have a heart attack, and this would make Randal reflect on his life and decide to make a movie about his life working at the Quick Stop. Jeff Anderson and Kevin Smith would reunite at an event, and Smith presented his new idea for Clerks III. Jeff Anderson was confirmed to be on board for Clerks III on October 1, 2019. The script was finally completed in 2021, and Lionsgate would distribute Clerks III this time as The Weinstein Company was officially bankrupted in 2018 after Harvey Weinstein’s allegations emerged in the fall of 2017. Lionsgate previously distributed Dogma.

(Warning: Spoilers for Clerks III)

Some ideas from the original Clerks III made it into the final version of Clerks III and Jay and Silent Bob Reboot. The original opening scene of Jay and Silent Bob being busted was put into Jay and Silent Bob Reboot, but without any hurricane and Randal. Becky was still killed off-screen before the events of Clerks III, but this time, killed by a drunk driver along with her and Dante’s unborn daughter. Rosario Dawson would return as Becky for Clerks III, but she would appear as a spirit trying to encourage Dante to move on with his life. Dante would still die at the end of the film, but not in a brutal way. Like Randal, he would suffer a heart attack later in the movie that would put him in rough shape. He would die peacefully in the hospital watching Randal’s movie with Becky’s spirit which would be a movie about Dante’s life that got Dante emotional.

Overall, Clerks III still landed up being an emotional roller-coaster that has fans torn, but it seems like a better fit than what was originally planned. The film feels like a better celebration of the original Clerks and not a big deviation from it. What do you think of this version of Clerks III? 

Would you have preferred to see this over what we got instead? Let us know in the comments below.