There's a lot going on for Kevin Smith at the moment after announcing that Jay and Silent Bob Reboot will begin production later this summer. However, fans have been wondering about the often talked about Clerks 3, which Smith has brought up a lot over the years. In a recent Q&A session, the director/writer revealed that it's not going to happen now, even after he secured the funds to finish the Clerks trilogy, which will surely come as a disappointment for fans who were waiting for an update about Clerks 3.

Speaking at the Q&A session during a Fatman on Batman live podcast, Kevin Smith was asked about the status of Clerks 3 where he responded with the bad news. Smith wanted to make the third installment a grand spectacle, a film that he compared to his version of Cinema Paradiso. However, it looks like his hopes have been shut down because actor Jeff Anderson, who plays Randal, does not want to do the movie. Smith explains.

"For a while, one of the clerks did not want to be involved. I wrote the script, he dug the script, he was just like, Yeah, don't wanna do it. It took me years to get him to a place where, Oh, maybe I'll do this' And then it looked like we were moving forward. We had loot for it. $8 million. That was the budget."

Jeff Anderson is one of the two main characters in the Clerks universe and it would be pretty much impossible to make Clerks 3 without his involvement. Kevin Smith revealed that the movie is Randal's movie, so as much as he wants to do it, he can't without Anderson's participation. At this time, Kevin Smith believes that Clerks 3 will never happen. He had this to say.

"I want it so badly but I can't do it without him, it was written for him. But the Randal part is the whole movie, like it's Randal's flick. So unless he changes his mind - if and when he changes his mind, I doubt that'll happen - then we can kind of move forward. I could never recast it, he is Randal, Jeff Anderson."

Although Clerks 3 won't be happening on the big screen without Jeff Anderson's Randal character, Kevin Smith has said that he has thought about turning the script into a comic book. The idea is cool, but really only for the hardcore Smith fans out there. However, Smith could bring his grand vision to the pages to show what could have been and even embellish it further into something that could never have been pulled off in real-life.

For now, Clerks 3 is not happening, which is a bummer, but at least we all have Jay and Silent Bob Reboot to look forward to. Kevin Smith mentioned in the same Q&A that production will begin this August to get the movie out in time for August of 2019. The sequel is going to be an awesome spoof on the reboot culture and will be done in the way that only Kevin Smith can deliver. You can check out the rest of what Smith had to say about Clerks 3 over at Comic Book.