If not for the Harvey Weinstein scandal, we might have had a sequel to the Kevin Smith comedy Dogma. According to Smith himself in a new interview with Business Insider, the disgraced producer and former head of Miramax had called him just a matter of days before the news of the Weinstein scandal broke. In the call, Weinstein floated the idea of re-releasing Dogma on home video before then pitching Dogma 2 to the Smith. Although talks hadn't gotten serious and the pitch was just an idea at that point, Smith was open to making the sequel. Of course, when the scandal broke about a week later, Weinstein was out and his Dogma 2 pitch went right along with him. Here's how Smith describes the phone call.

"I said, 'Hey, how are you?' And he goes, 'You know, we have Dogma, I just realized, and we got to get it out there again.' I said, 'We do! People online are always asking where they can get it. And he then goes, 'You know, that movie had a big cast, we might even be able to do a sequel.' And I was like, 'Yeah man, right on. I might think about that.' And he was like, 'We'll talk.' And a week later The New York Times story breaks. I felt sick to my stomach."

While Harvey Weinstein may have seemed eager to get a Dogma sequel made on the phone, Kevin Smith admits the producer may have had an ulterior motive. Apparently learning Weinstein had made at least one other similar phone call to another filmmaker, Smith believes he may have merely been trying to gather up as much support as he could from other Hollywood names before the scandal made headlines. "It was him looking to see who was a friend still because his life was about to shift completely," Smith explains. While none of us can know exactly what was going through Weinstein's head as he saw his career circling the drain, Smith's theory certainly makes a lot of sense.

Written and directed by Smith, Dogma stars Matt Damon and Ben Affleck as two fallen angels living on Earth after God banished them from Heaven. By finding a loophole in Catholic dogma, the two plan to return to the sky, but if they succeed, it would prove God to be fallible and thus eliminate all existence. Co-starring with Damon and Affleck are Linda Fiorentino, Salma Hayek, Jason Lee, Chris Rock, Alan Rickman, George Carlin, Janeane Garofalo, and Alanis Morissette. Of course, Jason Mewes and Smith also appear as Jay and Silent Bob, while Clerks co-stars Brian O'Halloran and Jeff Anderson both come in for special cameo appearances.

Mewes and Smith will be back as Jay and Silent Bob once again this month when Jay and Silent Bob Reboot premieres in theaters. The movie is set to open on Oct. 15, serving as both a continuation of Smith's movie series and a parody of the constant reboots Hollywood has been churning out in the years since Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. Additionally, Smith has also recently revealed his plans to finally make Clerks 3 now that he's managed to convince Anderson to return along with O'Halloran to conclude the story of cinema's favorite convenience store workers. Dogma 2 may not be on the horizon, but Jay and Silent Bob aren't going anywhere.

It's certainly for the best the scandal broke before production had actually begun on a Dogma sequel, as Smith seems to have dodged a bullet by not working with Weinstein when the reports about his deplorable behavior were released. Still, for fans of Smith's earlier movies, it would have been fun to see Dogma 2. At least there's still plenty of Jay and Silent Bob to see in the near future. This news comes to us from Business Insider.