Upcoming ‘Spinal Tap’ Sequel Will Feature Paul McCartney and Elton John, Along With OG Cast

Rob Reiner is bringing in the big guns for Spinal Tap II. According to the famed director, Elton John, Paul McCartney, Garth Brooks and “a few other surprises” are set to join the sequel to his 1984 cult classic, which will start shooting early next year.

While speaking on a recent episode of the RHLSTP with Richard Herring podcast, Reiner teased that filming for Spinal Tap II will begin in late February 2024. Aside from the music legends previously mentioned, the sequel will also bring back Reiner as filmmaker Marty DiBergi, as well as original stars Michael McKean, Harry Shearer and Christopher Guest.

As for the plot, Variety reports that it will take after Martin Scorsese‘s The Last Waltz, which was a 1978 documentary that followed the farewell concert of the Canadian-American rock group The Band. While it was originally slated for a March 2024 release date — which would be exactly 40 years after the original hit theaters — the Hollywood strikes caused a delay in production.

This Is Spinal Tap — which came out in 1984 — is a mockumentary that follows the fictional English heavy metal band Spinal Tap as they embark on their 1982 concert tour to promote their new album, “Smell the Glove.” The film, which is mostly improvised, quickly garnered praise from critics — even if it left audiences confused at first.

“When we first previewed it, we previewed it in a theater in Dallas, Texas, and people … they didn’t know what the heck they were looking at,” Reiner said on the podcast, per The New York Times. “They came up to me afterward and said, ‘I don’t understand. Why would you make a movie about a band that nobody’s ever heard of? And they’re so bad! Why would you do that?’ They said, ‘You should make a movie about the Beatles or the Rolling Stones.'”

He continued, “I said, ‘Well, it’s a satire.’ I tried to explain, you know. But over the years, people got it, and they started to like it.”

Despite calls for a sequel, it wasn’t until last year that Reiner announced his plans for a second movie.

“The plan is to do a sequel that comes out on the 40th anniversary of the original film,” Reiner told Deadline in 2022. “I can tell you hardly a day goes by without someone saying, ‘Why don’t you do another one?’ For so many years, we said, ‘Nah.’ It wasn’t until we came up with the right idea of how to do this. You don’t want to just do it, to do it. You want to honor the first one and push it a little further with the story.”