Later this year, Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey, the follow-up to the 1989 time travel classic Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, celebrates its 25th anniversary, and for most fans, the perfect anniversary gift would be confirmation that Bill & Ted 3 is actually moving forward. The sequel has been in development for years, with Dean Parisot (Galaxy Quest) signing on to direct back in 2012 from a script by Ed Solomon and Chris Matheson, who wrote the first two movies. Forbes caught up with Bill S. Preston Esquire himself, Alex Winter, who confirms, once again, that Keanu Reeves is on board to play Ted Theodore Logan.

"How the **** would we make it if he wasn't on board? People always ask if Keanu's doing it and I'm like, 'No, I'm making a Bill movie.' Of course he's in it. I can't make a Bill & Ted movie without Keanu."

Last March, Alex Winter hinted that Bill & Ted 3 would either happen very soon, or never at all, but this March, his co-star Keanu Reeves said the movie won't happen unless the story is just right. That was the last we had heard about the movie, but now Alex Winter states that they're looking to either start shooting by the end of 2016, or in early 2017. Here's what he had to say below.

"It's looking good. This is Hollywood so I don't believe it's happening until it's coming out on VOD but we're all working on the film everyday at the moment in terms of the pre-prep type work so it's an active project. Hopefully we'll be shooting it shortly. We've been working on it (the script) for, like, six years. We're knee deep in the script, it's been written by Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon who wrote the first two, they are fantastic writers, and the script is great. We have a script, we have a director, we have a studio - we're just trying to nail down a start date."

The sequel reportedly follows Bill and Ted through their midlife crisis, as they still haven't written the song that brings Peace and Harmony to the world. Alex Winter teased a few years back that there will be multiple Bill and Ted's, but it isn't know if this plot point is still in the latest version of the script. When asked about new cast members, Alex Winter stated that some of the original cast members will be back, along with new characters.

"I can't really go further than that other than to say some people are going to returning from the original by the fact that they're in it. There will be new people because obviously, sadly, Rufus (George Carlin) isn't around anymore and they will be interesting actors too."

Do you think this could be the year that Bill & Ted 3 finally gets off the ground? Or do you think this long-awaited sequel may never happen? We'll be sure to keep you posted with any further updates from either Alex Winter or Keanu Reeves as soon as they're available.