Kevin Smith isn’t necessarily planning for Clerks to be a trilogy as he says a fourth film will always be possible as long as he’s around.

Filmmaker Kevin Smith does not subscribe to the idea that movie franchises need to end as trilogies, teasing that one day he could very well make Clerks 4. This month, Clerks III will finally premiere in theaters after many false starts in the past with Smith’s efforts to get the sequel made. The film takes the story back to Smith’s roots, bringing back Dante O’Halloran and Jeff Anderson to reprise their roles from the previous two movies as Quick Stop clerks Dante Hicks and Randal Graves.


There are no plans at this time for Smith to clock back in at the Quick Stop for another Clerks film, but that does not mean it’s the end of the road for Dante and Randal. He’s keeping the door open for Clerks 4 because he apparently has no plans to ever retire from filmmaking, and another sequel in the series will therefore always remain a possibility. Per Yahoo!, he says that Clerks to him is what Star Wars is to George Lucas, teasing that we could very well see Dante and Randal again one day in the future.

“As long as I’m alive, there’s a chance there’s another Clerks coming. Look, [George] Lucas has Star Wars… this is all I got in life. I got my Clerks. I’ll never stop with the Clerks characters because I’ve found that Dante and Randall are my secret heart. That’s the best way into a personal story for me. They’re all personal because I steal from my own life. But these Clerks pictures have wound up being like, ‘Oh, that’s him doing him.’ That’s as close to Kevin as we get.”

Related: Exclusive: Rosario Dawson Discusses the Surprising Way She Returns to Clerks 3

Kevin Smith Uses His Own Life As Inspiration For His Films

The original Clerks came to be as Kevin Smith was an actual clerk at the Quick Stop who felt inspired to make a movie about his life. That’s not coincidentally the basis of the story for Clerks III as well, which sees Randal teaming up with Dante and other pals around the Quick Stop to make a movie about their lives. Smith says that he think of the original Clerks as a “biopic” because of how much his real life influenced the film, something that still inspired how Smith writes his screenplays to this day.

“When I watch Clerks, it’s a biopic. It’s like, ‘Oh, that was my life, that was my thing, that’s what my girlfriend said to me at the time. That’s what my friend said to me.’ So all the movies I make I watch and they’re very personal whether or tried to make them or not, cause I’m not talented enough to create s*** so I crib from my own life. In this one I probably cribbed the most from my real life since maybe the first Clerks, maybe Chasing Amy.”

Clerks III will be screening in theaters from Sept. 13-18 courtesy of Lionsgate and Fathom Events. The show is also going on the road with Kevin Smith for what’s being called The Convenience Tour, and you can find out more information at the official website for Clerks III.