Netflix has a little surprise Christmas gift for Adam Sandler fans that’s 28 years in the making.
On Wednesday, amid its NFL Christmas Gameday live event, the streamer shared a trailer for Happy Gilmore 2, its upcoming sequel to the 1996 Sandler sports comedy that helped shoot the comic actor into superstardom. The sequel will see Sandler, Christopher McDonald, Julie Bowen, Dennis Dugan, Allen Covert, and Ben Stiller reprise their roles from the original hit comedy.
Happy Gilmore 2, as Sandler revealed in 2022, follows his titular hockey reject turned golfer as he enters himself on a senior golf tour. McDonald reprises his role as pro-golfer Shooter McGavin and Bowen as GIlmore’s romantic interest, Virginia Venit. And Stiller, who was announced in November as an addition to the cast, returns as Hal L, a role that he originated in Happy Gilmore but crossed over into Sandler’s Hubie Halloween in 2020.
The sequel also marks the 13th film on which Sandler has collaborated with writing partner Tim Herlihy, who worked on Saturday Night Live alongside the comic as his star rose, as well as then-SNL writer Tina Fey, in the early 1990s (credit Herlihy for Sandler’s classic Canteen Boy SNL character). When Sandler exited the show, the two began collaborating on the broad man-child-out-of-water comedies that made Sandler a star, starting with the one-two punch of Billy Madison in 1995 and Happy Gilmore the following year.
In addition to the returning cast, superstar rapper-singer Bad Bunny, The Substance’s Margaret Qualley, Sandler comedy regular and pal Nick Swardson and actor-filmmaker Benny Safdie, who wrote and directed the actor’s jittery indie hit Uncut Gems, join the ensemble. Cameos confirmed for the comedy include appearances from rapper Eminem, football player Travis Kelce, and TV host Dan Patrick.
In 2020, Netflix extended its production deal with Sandler’s Happy Madison Productions to make four more films. Before the renewal, the deal initially inked in 2014 brought The Ridiculous 6, The Do-Over, Sandy Wexler, The Week Of; Murder Mystery; and 100% Fresh to the streaming giant. Netflix said that Murder Mystery was its most streamed movie of 2019.
