Efren Ramirez is ready to attend Preston High’s 20-year reunion. The Napoleon Dynamite star — who played mustachioed class president candidate Pedro Sánchez opposite Jon Heder as the titular mouth-breather in the 2004 indie comedy — has revealed that “the door’s not closed” on a possible sequel, two decades after the Jared Hess-directed movie danced its way to cult classic status.
“Everyone wants a sequel,” Ramirez exclusively told ComicBook during an interview for his new movie, the Danny Trejo-fronted zombie horror-comedy Seven Cemeteries. “And I can say this, legally, that the door’s not closed yet.”
Ramirez added that “there’s more to tell with these characters,” who last appeared in the Napoleon Dynamite animated series that ran for six episodes in 2012. “When you have a really good story, whether you make a prequel or a sequel, you can really explore the depths of these characters of where they would be, or where they came from, or what led them to be where they’re at.”
The tease comes after Ramirez told the crowd at the FanX Salt Lake Comic & Pop Culture convention: “The world of Napoleon Dynamite has not closed yet. We will see.”
In addition to Heder and Ramirez, Napoleon Dynamite starred Tina Majorino as Glamour Shots artisan and home-woven handicrafts maker Deb, Aaron Ruell as aspiring cage fighter Kip Dynamite, and Jon Gries as the plastic-peddling Uncle Rico. Set in rural Preston, Idaho, the slice-of-life comedy follows the trio of Napoleon, Pedro, and Deb as they launch a campaign to elect Pedro for class president and make the student body’s wildest dreams come true.
“I travel across the country with Jon Heder and Jon Gries, and it’s amazing to see when we go on stage and see hundreds of people dressed up as the characters,” Ramirez told ComicBook. “To me, I say, ‘Wow, I’m a part of this. This is cool. I get to enjoy and play a character that resonates with people over the world.’”
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Heder suggested that a Napoleon Dynamite 2 may be in the works last year when he said that he “would love to do more Napoleon stuff.”
“I don’t think the book of Napoleon is closed forever. I honestly think there’s gonna be something — whether it’s a sequel, or a TV show, or another animated [show],” Heder said during Pittsburgh’s Steel City Con. “Did you guys see the animated series? It’s pretty good. That’s your sequel, right there. We had the original cast back, it was awesome. It just goes to show that because we had that show, it means there’s more out there I honestly think you could do.”
Because the Fox Searchlight Pictures release is now owned by Disney, Heder said, “We know how Disney feels about cashing in on everything that’s ever been made. So you never know. Maybe we’ll be back. I honestly don’t think it’s dead. There’s gotta be something.”
A Napoleon Dynamite sequel “would have to be real time,” Heder added of the 20-year gap between movies. “We wouldn’t do, ‘It’s senior year, and it’s a bunch of 40-year-olds pretending they’re still in high school.’ If it was coming from me — I don’t know how much they’re going to listen to me — but prepare yourselves, it’s gonna be dark.”
Life wouldn’t be freakin’ sweet for a middle-aged Napoleon, whose sick skills haven’t translated to the real world.
“Part of the charm of Napoleon is the innocence of youth. They’re in high school, they don’t have any real responsibility or accountability too much, it’s all coming of age,” Heder said. “Napoleon today would be: he’s entered the workforce, he’s got responsibility, he’s paying for maybe one or two alimonies, child support for one of them. But it’s great, because it also gives our hero a very low place to start. He’s got to win back Deb, maybe, and he’s got to save Uncle Rico from prison, and Kip is actually roided-out from cage fighting. So Napoleon and Kip are getting there and Kip is tearing people up. I don’t know, there’s something there.”
Se7en Cemeteries opens in select theaters and is available digitally on VOD starting Oct. 11.