Ready for Young Guns 3: Much Older Guns? Well, you better get ready, because it just might happen. Emilio Estevez, the once and future Billy the Kid, has revealed that a potential third entry in the Young Guns franchise is “definitely in the works,” somehow. Young Guns, released in 1988, and Young Guns II, released in 1990, were heavily fictionalized retellings of the wild days of Billy the Kid and all his outlaw pals. I don’t know if you could call them good movies, but they sure were entertaining. And now a third one is inexplicably being considered.
In 1988, Young Guns blazed onto the big screen. The film featured Emilio Estevez as Billy the Kid, leading a cast that included Kiefer Sutherland, Lou Diamond Phillips, Charlie Sheen, Dermot Mulroney, Jack Palance, and more (a young Tom Cruise even has a brief, non-speaking cameo!). It told the story of Billy the Kid and his gang during the Lincoln County War, which took place in New Mexico during 1877 through 1878, and like most stories about Billy the Kid, it was heavily fictionalized. It was also a big hit, grossing $56 million against an $11 million budget. Which meant that even though the film ended with a voice-over talking about Billy the Kid’s death, we still got a sequel.
That sequel was 1990’s Young Guns II, which brought back Estevez, Sutherland, and Phillips, and threw in Christian Slater for good measure. This sequel also introduced a big twist: contrary to historical record, Billy the Kid was not gunned-down by lawman Pat Garrett (played by William Petersen). Instead, Billy faked his death and lived on under the name Brushy Bill Roberts (who was a real person who really did claim to be Billy the Kid, even though there’s zero evidence to support those claims).
The “Billy the Kid faked his death!” angle would certainly leave the door open to a potential third Young Guns film, but such a film never materialized. However, now, more than 30 years after Young Guns II hit theaters, that third film might become a reality. Speaking with Collider, Estevez was asked point-blank if Young Guns 3 would ever happen, and, surprise surprise, he said yes! Here’s what the actor had to say:
“Yeah, it’s definitely in the works. I drive a lot and I spend a lot of time in the Midwest, and people will tell me, ‘We haven’t seen you on screen for awhile. Come back! We’d love to see you in the movies again. We’d love to see you play Gordon Bombay. We’d love to see you play Billy the Kid.’ So, I feel like we’ve ticked one box, and we’re working on ticking the other one. The Kid is a fun character to play. There’s a lot of speculation about what happened that night, in 1881 in Fort Sumner, New Mexico. Did he die? Did he not? And so, there’s a lot of mythical, historical and actually some factual things that we can examine, if we’re serious about going back to that franchise, as well.”
You know what? Go ahead, make Young Guns 3. I’m not going to say we need that movie, but I will absolutely watch it if it happens. Emilio Estevez seems like a nice enough guy, and he’s overdue for some sort of comeback. He has the upcoming Disney+ Mighty Ducks: Game Changers series, so maybe that’ll signal the kick-off of the Eztevezissance.
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