Actor Jason Mewes, who is best known as chatterbox stoner Jay in Kevin Smith’s View Askewniverse, has teased just how much of the beloved character is in the upcoming Clerks 3. Filming is currently underway on Smith’s latest entry in the popular franchise, with the last Clerks sequel having arrived 15 years ago. For many fans, the new film already feels more nostalgic than 2006’s Clerks 2, thanks in large part to Smith’s regular social media updates.
Returning to the site of the actual Quick Stop and its neighboring RST Video, Smith also celebrated his 51st birthday as filming on Clerks 3 kicked off. As any Smith fan knows, the Quick Stop was where the first Clerks was filmed, while Smith was still an employee of the convenience store dreaming of making it as a big-time filmmaker. The arrival of Clerks was arguably bigger than anything Smith could’ve imagined. It set an invaluable standard for independent filmmaking at a time when it didn’t seem like Hollywood was open to anyone who wasn’t an established filmmaker responsible for blockbusters. Today, the film is still widely respected, as are the cast of characters Smith used to bring his onscreen world to life.
With its sardonic wit and often blunt representation of life in an entry-level job landscape, the characters in Clerks still feel relevant today. In fact, some of the characters have managed to move beyond Clerks and appear in a host of other films by Smith. Jay and Silent Bob are two very understated characters that have managed to build a strong following that has manifested itself in everything from spinoff films to comic books and video games. Fans have grown increasingly used to the duo appearing in some capacity in many of Smith’s films, and the upcoming Clerks 3 is no different in this respect. Screen Rant recently spoke to Mewes about the film and the 47-year-old teased just how much Jay there will be in the sequel. Read what he said below:
We were just talking about that, me and Kevin and the wife, because the last one we did was Reboot and I was there every day, 12 hours a day. This one I worked like three days last week, and I worked yesterday for like, an hour because I had one line yesterday, so I was there maybe two hours. Friday, I was there maybe four hours because I had like two scenes, one of them was dancing the other one was me saying one line of dialogue. It’s been nice, because it’s like, I get to be part of the movie and be there almost every day, but I’m only there for a couple hours and then I could go home and hang out with my kid or I can wake up and stream on Twitch.
From the sounds of it, Jay doesn’t have as much to do in the film as he did in 2019’s Jay and Silent Bob Reboot. This shouldn’t concern fans, however, as it only makes sense that Mewes would have had far more scenes in a film that was explicitly about Jay and the Silent Bob character played by Smith than in a Clerks film. What is known so far about Jay in Clerks 3, however, is that the familiar RST Video has since changed hands, with Jay and Silent Bob taking over to create RST THC. Exactly what sort of effect this will have on the film’s plot remains unknown, but with Jay and Silent Bob now ostensibly hanging out in their own shop instead of out front of the Quick Stop, there’s bound to be some hilarious moments.
Sequels are always a tricky business and in the case of something as long-lived as the Clerks franchise, exactly how successful Clerks 3 will be is anyone’s guess. However, with characters like Jay and Silent Bob, as well as the remainder of the original cast returning, this is very much a film for the fans. As such, its success is something of a foregone conclusion. For many, it’s just great to see the franchise still persevering after all these years.
