*This article contains spoilers for Young Guns and Young Guns II*
Photo Credit: Moviehole
Nearly 30 years since the last installment to the Young Guns franchise, it seems that Billy the Kid will once again make his way onto the big screen with a new film apparently called Guns 3: Alias Billy the Kid. According to a January 15, 2021 tweet from John Fusco, the writer for both Young Guns and Young Guns II, a third installment for the film series is on its way.
“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,” the tweet said, and it continued to tag Young Guns veterans Lou Diamond Phillips, Kiefer Sutherland, and Christian Slater, while also mentioning two new names— Vincent D’Onofrio and Chris Pratt.
In the days after the initial tweet, Fusco also tweeted pictures from the sets of the original films with actor Emilio Estevez, who played the lead, Billy the Kid.
The original Young Guns films were box office hits, with the first movie making $43.4 million and the second making $40.4 million in the United States, according to Rotten Tomatoes.
However, while there is much excitement over the talk of a third film, Estevez has previously stated that he wasn’t sure if there would be a third movie. In a past interview with Jon Foss of The CW Twin Cities, he was asked if he would be a part of another installment, Estevez did not seem optimistic.
“We all were killed at the end, I don’t see how we would do that,” Estevez said. “There’s a little gray area about whether or not Billy the Kid was actually was killed by Pat Garrett in 1881, that he went on to live as another individual named Brushy Bill Roberts. Is there a possibility of mining that story? Perhaps, but for now I don’t see how those cast members could come back to life unless there was some mystical aspect to the story included.”
While a story line, director, and official cast has not been announced yet, the film does have its own IMDB page which cites Estevez as the director, co writer (with Fusco), and currently the only actor. The page also lists August 3, 2022 as a release date, though this is not confirmed.
Since many of the main characters of the films were killed off at the end of the second movie, this leaves the plot of the third film up to the minds of fans. While Emilio Estevez believes that a “mystical aspect” would be a possible solution to bring characters back from the dead, the film does not necessarily have to start where the second one ended.
It would make sense for the third film to continue after Young Guns II, possibly telling the story of Billy’s life as Brushy Bill Roberts, who was introduced in the second film, since the actors have aged 30 years since then. However with current CGI technology it is entirely possible to make anyone look younger, as seen recently in The Irishman, where Joe Pesci, Robert De Niro, and Al Pacino were “de aged” using Industrial Light & Magic, a visual effects company.
It would be interesting to see which path the film takes; Billy on the run after his apparent death or sometime before Young Guns II. While there are many options for the film, none have been confirmed so far. Another possible idea for the plot could be the time between Young Guns and Young Guns II. There is a four year gap between the time periods of each film, and the third film could explore how characters from the second film found their way into it and what each character had been up to in the meantime.
It will also be interesting to see if musician Jon Bon Jovi comes back to the franchise with more music. Blaze of Glory was Jon Bon Jovi’s first solo album and was inspired by Young Guns II. The songs “Blaze of Glory” and “Billy Get Your Guns” were used for the film’s end credits. A new album by Jon Bon Jovi would be perfect for the film, as the Blaze of Glory album went perfectly with the second film.
The news of a new Young Guns movie has many fans excited and hopeful that this new release will live up to expectations, but that all remains to be seen. Hopefully more information will be released in the coming months and satisfy fans craving for more of the hit Western film franchise.
