We assure you, they’re finally open. 16 years since Kevin Smith released his surprisingly warm and heartfelt Clerks II, New Jersey slackers Dante and Randal are back for another day of customers with Clerks III. The movie hasn’t had an easy road to production. Between financing problems (much of it rooted in the collapse of the Weinstein Company) and the pandemic, it’s almost a tradition that every Clerks movie fights an uphill battle to get its cameras rolling. But now Clerks III is around the corner, so here’s everything we know about it.

What is the Clerks 3 release window?

Clerks III doesn’t have a release date yet, although it is scheduled for release in 2022. That makes the fall or early winter likely.

Is there a Clerks 3 trailer?

As revealed by the movie’s Instagram page, a trailer for Clerks III will be released on July 6, 2022.

What is the Clerks 3 plot?

Back in 2019, Kevin Smith told TheWrap that Clerks III is about a near-fatal heart attack suffered by Randal, who reconsiders his life and is inspired to make a movie about his life working at the Quick Stop convenience store.

“Randal has a heart attack, decides that he came so close to death, and his life has meant nothing, there’s nobody to memorialize him, he has no family or anything like that,” Smith said. “And in the recovery, while under fentanyl, he comes to the conclusion at mid-life, having almost died, having worked in a movie store his whole life and watched other people’s movies, he tells Dante, I think we need to make a movie. So Dante and Randal make Clerks. That’s the story of Clerks III.”

Clerks III is inspired by Smith’s own life, as he suffered a heart attack in 2018 just hours after filming his first stand-up special and began re-evaluating his priorities.

Who’s in the Clerks 3 cast?

Most of the principal cast from the first two movies are expected to star in Clerks III:

• Brian O’Halloran as Dante, one of two main leads, who’s more responsible and seeks some semblance of stability and adulthood. O’Halloran reprises a role that dates back to the first Clerks.
• Jeff Anderson as Randal, the other lead. Sardonic and abrasive, Randal convinced Dante to buy the Quick Stop and run it themselves at the end of Clerks II.
• Marilyn Ghigliotti as Veronica, Dante’s ex-girlfriend. Clerks III is the first time Ghigliotti is reprising her role in a significant way since 1994.
• Rosario Dawson as Becky, Dante’s wife and former boss, who he married at the end of Clerks II.
• Trevor Fehrman as Elias, an awkward friend of Dante and Randal who worked with them at Mooby’s in Clerks II.

Jason Mews and Kevin Smith will also return as their popular Jay and Silent Bob side characters, with Smith claiming Clerks III will have them as side characters rather than putting them front and center.

Are there any Clerks III photos?

The first official photo of Clerks III was released in August 2021. It features actors O’Halloran, Anderson, Dawson, and Fehrman in front of the original Quick Stop convenience counter.

In an interview with Vanity Fair, Smith said: “All of us are in our late 40s, if not 50s… and you’ll see the progression. We don’t hide the age. We don’t Hollywood it up. We all look as old as we look.”

How do I watch the first two Clerks movies?

If you need to catch up or want to refresh your memory, you can watch the first Clerks on Paramount+. Both Clerks and Clerks II are also streaming on Pluto.

Clerks III will be released in 2022.