This might seem out of left field, because Josh Gad hasn’t written a feature screenplay before, though he did write for his shows “1600 Penn” and “Central Park.” But let’s not forget that Gad appeared as William Shakespeare last year in “History of the World Part II,” Hulu’s sequel series to Mel Brooks’ historical anthology parody “History of the World Part I.” There’s a good chance he made the right connections to get Mel Brooks to agree to let a “Spaceballs” sequel happen during that show’s production, if he hadn’t already gotten the chance to cultivate such an opportunity before that.

Furthermore, let’s not forget that Gad was supposed to be working on a “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids” legacy-quel/reboot of some kind. That means Gad may have also gotten a chance to connect with that franchise’s star, Rick Moranis, who played the villainous Dark Helmet in “Spaceballs.” Moranis actually once had his own idea for a “Spaceballs” sequel, which would have been called “Spaceballs III: The Search for Spaceballs II,” but that never came together either. Granted, if a “Spaceballs” sequel followed in the footsteps of the “Star Wars” sequels, Moranis wouldn’t need to appear in the movie as Dark Helmet (though he once reprised the role on “The Goldbergs“), but Gad’s potential connection with him does make that possibility more likely. 

However, there’s one other promising detail we can discern from this script page.