Is there a bigger cult classic among 35-to-50-year-olds than Richard Donner's 1985 film The Goonies? Go to any revivalist rock concert, and you'll undoubtedly see one or two "Goonies Never Say Die" shirts in the crowd. Crack a joke about Slick Shoes or Chester Copperpot to your local barista, and you'll likely get a solid laugh. Name your fantasy football team the Truffle Shuffle, and everyone in your league will get the reference. Back in the '80s, The Goonies made a cool $125 million at the box office, but the rental/streaming/merchandise dividends have multiplied that profit margin exponentially thanks to its enduring popularity.

So, what's up with the sequel? Sure, the cast has aged out of their roles, and director Richard Donner passed away in 2021, but the brains of the outfit was Steven Spielberg, who produced the film and developed the story. Some have even said Spielberg was the de facto director, with Donner simply getting directing credit because of his amazing ability to work with child actors. With Spielberg still regularly working today and an enormous demand for a sequel, it seems all but inevitable that we will eventually get a reboot of some variety.

The Obstacles to Making Goonies 2

First off, making a sequel faces a number of obstacles. The biggest might be the character of Sloth, who was once everyone's favorite character in the movie but nowadays might be viewed as an ableist portrayal, given his facial deformities and simplified speech. Then there is Lawrence "Chunk" Cohen, who got most of the film's biggest laughs, but nearly all those jokes were crafted around his weight — something that also wouldn't fly in today's climate. Jeff Cohen, who played Chunk, is now a mild-mannered lawyer who hasn't acted since the '80s.

Before his death, Donner vacillated on a Goonies sequel, at one time saying he, Spielberg, and scribe Chris Columbus attempted to hash out a sequel before realizing it would be too difficult. Then, in 2014, Donner told TMZ that he was planning to run it back with the entire original cast. If Donner had, in fact, made an earnest attempt at re-developing the franchise, those efforts likely went to the grave with him three years ago.

Sean Astin Thinks a Sequel Is Inevitable, but Spielberg May Not

Sean Astin, who played Mikey Walsh in The Goonies and then went on to a stellar acting career, thinks that a sequel is a shoo-in. In 2012, Astin told IGN that “[A sequel] will happen. I’m 1000 percent certain there will be a sequel. I will bet my children on it.” Still, it's been over a decade since Astin offered that gamble. While the intellectual property rights to The Goonies are an absolute goldmine, they are closely guarded by Spielberg and owned by Warner Bros. — who will ultimately make the final call on approving a sequel.

Steven Spielberg, like his friend and sometime collaborator Robert Zemeckis is with Back to the Future, might be reticent to do the original film an injustice with a poor sequel or reboot. Recent reboots like those of the Ghostbusters franchise (which were profitable but critically panned), likely aren't encouraging Spielberg to put resources into a Goonies sequel. His standards are simply too high. Still, it's easy to imagine ways that the original film could be reworked, and it may be the case that such an effort is already in the works, but Spielberg and the Amblin/DreamWorks/Warners team are simply keeping it cloak-and-dagger.

How a Goonies Sequel Might Work

Imagining a sequel with the original cast is difficult but certainly not impossible. Sean Astin and Josh Brolin are still big names and work regularly. Ke Huy Quan, who played Data, just had a major resurgence when he won an Academy Award for his role in Everything Everywhere All at Once after a 19-year acting hiatus. Even Corey Feldman could be re-incorporated, as his cringe-worthy career hasn't really deviated from his Goonies character, Mouth. Martha Plimpton, Joe Pantoliano and Robert Davi are still working today, as well.

An obvious solution could be a legacy sequel that brings the franchise back to Astoria, Oregon but makes the original cast into the parents of a new Goon Squad. That recipe worked brilliantly with Creed and solved many of the problems of trying to throw an aging Sylvester Stallone into the ring yet again. Sloth could be referenced in Goonies 2 as a character in absentia, and it's fun to think about where One-Eyed Willy's ship ended up after being dislodged from its cave and sailing out into the Pacific Ocean.

Although many reboots and sequels are hitting movie theaters and streaming platforms these days, there is one eventuality that we may simply have to accept: The Goonies may be untouchable. So many original reboots and sequels of '80s classics have been a disappointment, and successful sequels made decades after the original (see Top Gun: Maverick) are extremely rare. Ultimately, however, these decisions come down to money. With that in mind, when it comes to a Goonies sequel — never say die. Rent The Goonies on AppleTV+.