A fucking Napoleon Dynamite following? Sweet! Nearly two decades after the 2004 cult indie comedy introduced audiences to a trio of eccentrics — misfit breather Napoleon (Jon Heder), high school class president candidate Pedro (Efren Ramirez), and craftsman Glamor Shots and home woven craft maker Deb (Tina Majorino) – Heder says there might be a 20 years later second chapter. But don’t expect a return to Preston Senior High School: Heder wants Napoleon Dynamite 2 be darker and unfold in real time. During a recent appearance at Steel City Con in Pittsburgh, Heder had this to say about a potential sequel to Jared Hess’ offbeat comedy:

“There is no official statement at this time,” Heder said before asking the convention crowd, “Do you want a Napoleon following? Don’t you think it would be ruined?”

“The track record of most of these old cult movies getting a sequel or reboot is [iffy]“, Heder continued, pointing to poorly received comedy sequels years later, like Dumb and Dumber To and Bad Santa 2. Despite a poor track record for follow-ups to beloved cult comedies, Heder said he “would personally like to do more Napoleon stuff. I would like.”

“I don’t think Napoleon’s book is closed forever. I honestly think there’s going to be something – whether it’s a sequel, or a TV show, or another animated movie [show]Heder added of the short-lived 2012 animated series that ran for six episodes on Fox. “Have you seen the animated series? It’s pretty good. That’s your suite, right there. We had the original cast, it was awesome. It just goes to show that because we got this show, that means there’s more than I honestly think you could do.”

In 2004, Fox Searchlight Pictures acquired Napoleon at the Sundance Film Festival before teaming up with Paramount Pictures and MTV Films – behind films such as Beavis and Butthead and Donkey — co-present Napoleon Dynamite to a wider audience of teenagers and young adults in theatres. As part of the deal, Fox Searchlight would distribute Napoleon in the United States and Canada, with Paramount handling international distribution.

Since Disney’s 2019 acquisition of 21st Century Fox – including Searchlight Pictures and 20th Television – Heder has believed in the franchise potential of Napoleon Dynamite.

“Now that the Fox properties are owned by Disney, we know how Disney feels about capitalizing on everything that’s been done,” Heder said. “So you never know. Maybe we’ll be back. Honestly, I don’t think it’s dead. There must be something.” Heder then cautioned against expecting Napoleon to don another “Vote for Pedro” shirt or show off his sick dance moves: if there’s a Napoleon Dynamite 2it would be set 20 years after high school.

“In my opinion, if there was a Napoleon next, it would have to be in real time. We wouldn’t be like, ‘This is senior year, and this is a bunch of 40-somethings pretending they’re still in high school,'” Heder said. “If it was me – I don’t know at how much they’re going to listen to me, but get ready, it’s going to be dark.”

In his impromptu speech, Heder envisioned a less than screwed up future for a middle-aged Napoleon, his brother Kip (Aaron Ruell), and their uncle Rico (Jon Gries).

“Part of Napoleon’s charm is the innocence of youth. They’re in high school, they don’t have too much responsibility or accountability, everything is coming of age,” Heder said. “Napoleon today would be: he entered the world of work, he has responsibilities, he pays maybe one or two alimony, alimony for one of them.”

Heder added, “But it’s great because it also gives our hero a really low place to start and he has to win Deb back, maybe, and he has to save Uncle Rico from jail, and Kip is in made out of the cage fight. So Napoleon and Kip come in and Kip tears people apart. I don’t know, there’s something there.

Napoleon Dynamite is now streaming on HBO Max.