It’s not our dream Freaks and Geeks reunion movie, but it’s the next best thing.
In an effort to promote his new film Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (due out Friday, March 31; watch trailer), screenwriter/director John Francis Daley (fka Sam Weir) enlisted fellow former “Geeks” Samm Levine (who played Neal Schweiber) and Martin Starr (who played Bill Haverchuck) for another round of D&D — just like they played in the cult classic’s series finale, “Discos and Dragons.” And while they never refer to each other by character name, they’re totally back in character.
There’s even evidence that they’re still playing the same game they started on Freaks and Geeks. Not only are all three Geeks seated in the Weir family dining room, but the D&D board looks virtually the same, as does the placement of the soda cans on the dinner table. They also reference Carlos the Dwarf, the D&D character created by James Franco’s Daniel Desario.
“We should probably wrap it up. It’s getting late. We’ve been playing for… 23 years,” Sam says, referring to the number of years since the episode that inspired the bit first aired on NBC.
“Man, time really flies when you’re playing D&D,” Neal replies. “Well, I should get going. My parents are probably worried… if my parents are still alive.” (Dark!)
Sam goes on to suggest that someone should turn D&D into a movie, but Neal and Bill convince him it’s the “stupidest idea in the world.” Watch below:
Time flies when you play D&D. #DnDMovie #FreaksandGeeks pic.twitter.com/iW8MqnP3Pt
— Dungeons & Dragons Movie (@DnDMovie) March 28, 2023
For the uninitiated: Freaks and Geeks centered on Linda Cardellini’s Lindsay Weir, a gifted high schooler who befriended a group of burnouts (or rather “Freaks,” played by then-unknowns Franco, Jason Segel, Seth Rogen and Busy Philipps). Sam, Neal and Bill represented the “Geeks.” Despite glowing reviews, it got axed by NBC after just one season and remains a staple on every “TV shows cancelled too soon” list — including our own.
For its 20th anniversary, TVLine’s Dave Nemetz pleaded for a feature-length revival set at the Freaks’ McKinley High reunion, but it doesn’t seem like that’ll be happening anytime soon. Rogen recently told People that he didn’t think “anyone would do it,” out of fear of tarnishing the series’ legacy.
“It’s so rare that you do something in your career that is actually just viewed as good,” he said at the time. “I know enough now not to f–k with that, to just let it be good and not try to go revisit it… just let it exist.”
Watch the D&D promo above and the F&G scene that inspired it below, then hit the comments with your reactions.