Rick Moranis made a special appearance at San Diego Comic-Con on Friday to promote the long-awaited sequel Spaceballs: The New One, which marks his first live-action movie in almost 30 years.
The rarely seen funny man, who reprises his role as the Darth Vader parody character Dark Helmet, received a standing ovation the moment he walked on the famous Hall H stage.
Once the applause finally died down, Moranis joined his co-stars Josh Gad, Keke Palmer, Daphne Zuniga and Lewis Pullman for a panel discussion about the film and how he came to be in it.
Moranis, 73, whose last movie was 1997’s Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves, even joked about his decades-long break from Hollywood, saying he never ‘retired.’
‘I really wasn’t retired. I was just negotiating,’ he said, per Page Six.
Truth be told, Moranis stepped away from onscreen acting in the mid-1990s to raise his two children after his wife, Ann Belsky, died of cancer. He was seen strolling in New York City by himself in March.
Rick Moranis made a special appearance at San Diego Comic-Con on Friday to promote the long-awaited sequel Spaceballs: The New One, which marks his first live-action movie in almost 30 years
The rarely seen funny man reprises his role as the Darth Vader parody character Dark Helmet in the new movie that comes out in April 2027
While he avoided major film roles, Moranis occasionally did voiceover work and recorded comedy music albums.
The iconic star of Ghostbusters (1984) and Little Shop of Horrors (1986) told the Comic-Con crowd that Spaceballs: The New One ‘came along right at the right time,’ and he eagerly agreed to return to the spoof galaxy far, far away after ‘hearing who was going to be in it.’
‘It just felt like this is it. It’s time and – yes. I said yes, and it is the best decision I’ve ever made,’ Moranis said.
Moranis’ participation in the sequel was announced by Amazon MGM Studios in September 2025.
The studio confirmed that Bill Pullman, who played the renegade space pilot Lone Starr, a spoof of Han Solo, will also return to the sequel along with his son, Lewis Pullman, as his character’s son, Prince Starburst.
In Spaceballs: The New One, the evil Dark Helmet returns 40 years later to threaten the galaxy with a lack of original ideas. Prince Starburst, the wayward son of Queen Vespa (Zuniga), and palace advisor Destiny (Palmer) join forces to track down a hidden Lone Starr and Yogurt (Mel Brooks) to stop the galactic takeover.
The original Spaceballs, which was co-written, produced and directed by Brooks, was a modest box office hit when it was released in 1987 but has since become a massive cult classic.
It parodied the first trilogy of Star Wars, which follows Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) and Han Solo (Harrison Ford) as they battle the evil Galactic Empire.
Moranis, 73, received a standing ovation the moment he walked on the famous Hall H stage
‘I really wasn’t retired. I was just negotiating,’ Moranis said of his nearly three-decade absence from Hollywood
The Ghostbusters alum, seen here wtih Josh Greenbaum, left, and Josh Gad, center, had everyone in stitches
In Spaceballs: The New One, Moranis joins original castmembers and new faces
‘It just felt like this is it. It’s time and – yes. I said yes, and it is the best decision I’ve ever made,’ Moranis said of the movie; here he is pictured in the original Spaceballs alongside George Wyner, left, and Mel Brooks, right
Brooks, who turned a milestone 100 years old on June 28, had a hand in writing the new movie with Gad, Benji Samit and Dan Hernandez.
The Hollywood legend returns to voice the role of Yogurt, a parody of the wise Jedi master Yoda in Star Wars.
Brooks didn’t physically appear at the panel discussion and Q&A but sent a humorous video clip to help kick off the event.
‘I’ve done a lot of things in my career, but not Comic-Con. Maybe that’s because they don’t pay,’ Brooks quipped, per People.
Bill Pullman, 72, didn’t appear at San Diego Comic-Con, but Lewis, 33, did.
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