Rick Moranis Is Ending His Acting Hiatus By Reprising His ‘Spaceballs’ Role On ‘The Goldbergs’

In 1997, the year he starred in Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves, Rick Moranis took a “little break” from acting. That “little break,” he explained, “turned into a longer break, and then I found that I really didn’t miss it.” His filmography, full of classics like Little Shop of Horrors and Ghostbusters, has grown sparse — over the past 20 years, Moranis has lent his voice to the Disney movie Brother Bear and its sequel Brother Bear 2, Bob & Doug (an animated series based on the SCTV characters of the same name), and little else. He turned down a part in the 2016 Ghostbusters, but the Parenthood star will reprise his role as Spaceballs villain Dark Helmet in this Wednesday’s episode of The Goldbergs.

Moranis voices the character in one of young film enthusiast Adam Goldberg’s dreams, as Adam (Sean Giambrone) “encounters Dark Helmet storming his bedroom to battle with the Schwartz,” a play on Star Wars’ The Force, according to a description. Adam “promises to get a sequel to Spaceballs produced before waking up.” (Via)

“I truly think Rick Moranis gave the most underrated and brilliant comedic performance in any ‘80s movie as Dark Helmet,” The Goldbergs creator Adam F. Goldberg (no, not that Adam Goldberg, the other one) said. “I’ve been a lifelong fan of his work and became obsessed with having him reprise the role on my show. As an added bonus, maybe this even gets Spaceballs back in the conversation, and I can get my dream of helping make a sequel!” It’s a major coup for The Goldbergs (which does excellent pop culture homages) to get Moranis, and as Goldberg suggests, maybe it will inspire Mel Brooks to finish Spaceballs 2, if only so his final film isn’t Dracula: Dead and Loving It.