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After Back to the Future became the highest-grossing movie of 1985, it not only spawned one of the most beloved science-fiction movie franchises of all time, but it also became a focal point in the conversation of great populist films. Even if the sequels didn’t quite match the original, the three movies are a unit. In the decades since its release, Hollywood has gone back to the well countless times, rebooting classic properties and delivering new sequels to dormant franchises that were once impeccable. Sometimes this gives you a film like Blade Runner 2049, and sometimes it gives you 2025’s I Know What You Did Last Summer. Despite this potential, fans still wonder: Where is Back to the Future Part 4?
Speaking in an interview with ScreenRant, Back to the Future co-creator and writer Bob Gale opened up about the constant questioning from fans (and, almost certainly, Hollywood) about the potential for a fourth film in the series. Gale revealed he has two responses for answering the question, which are: “Never, or f–k you.” It’s been thirty-seven years since the third film ended the story, but the appetite for another tale remains tantalizing for fans. For Gale, though, the potential of messing it up is far more real, but the absence of a key player would also totally change a fourth movie.
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Gale’s insistence that a fourth Back to the Future movie will never be made, though, goes a little deeper than just not wanting it to happen; in fact, his reasoning is sound. The writer noted that they added “The End” at the conclusion of the third film because it really was the ending of the story. Then, reality made it certain, squashing a fourth movie with one very good hypothetical.
“Then when Michael J. Fox announced he had Parkinson’s disease, it was like, ‘Okay, do you want to see a Back to the Future movie without Michael J. Fox?’” Gale said. “And whenever anybody asks me, ‘What about a part four?’ And then I respond with that. They kind of take a step back, and they say, ‘Oh, well, maybe not.’”
Gale said that it also wouldn’t matter what idea they came up with for a fourth movie, it “would never live up to the first three,” adding that history has shown this to be the case countless times across film.
“When you go back to the well too many times, the water doesn’t taste very good anymore,” Gale added.
Instead of a fourth Back to the Future movie, the franchise’s future may very well live on with the musical version of the first film that is currently touring. As Gale notes, “Nobody is expecting it to be like the movie exactly. Certainly, nobody’s expecting to see Michael J. Fox or Christopher Lloyd because we all know they’re not going to be able to sing and dance.”
Gale’s collaborator and Back to the Future director Robert Zemeckis previously teased that he’d rather a movie version of the musical be made than a Back to the Future Part 4, but so far that hasn’t turned into anything concrete for the series. As it stands now, Back to the Future will remain the trilogy that it always has been, making it one of the few franchises in Hollywood that remains sealed off from spoil.
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