Over 40 Years Later, ‘The Last Starfighter’ Writer & Director Reveal Status of a Sequel
The cast and creators of the film The Last Starfighter joined together on stage at the recent Hollywood Show to chat about the cult classic sci-fi adventure, which recently celebrated its 41st anniversary.
The Last Starfighter was released in theaters on July 13, 1984. The story centers around a young man named Alex Rogan, played by Lance Guest, who is recruited by an alien defense force to fight in an interstellar war after achieving the highest score on a video game placed on Earth. While the film wasn’t a massive box-office hit, it still brought in $28.7 million worldwide against its $15 million budget.
Notably, The Last Starfighter was one of the earliest films to use CGI in a groundbreaking way, helping pave the path for future digital effects in cinema.
The panel consisted of Lance Guest (Alex Rogan), Catherine Mary Stewart (Maggie), Chris Hebert (Louis Rogan), Peter Nelson (Jack), Cameron Dye (Andy), Susanne Snyder (Cheerleader), director Nick Castle, writer Jonathan R. Betuel, and the film’s composer Craig Safan. They all shared their favorite moments from the film, including memorable lines, and of course, if there will be a sequel. Read on to find out what they had to say.
What is the status of The Last Starfighter sequel?
The main thing on everyone’s mind was whether or not there would be – or could be – a sequel to The Last Starfighter.
“There have been in the past attempts at mounting a sequel to The Last Starfighter. The last serious one was in 2000, with the studio involved and a green light and a script and all kinds of things going for it,” Castle said. “As things happen in Hollywood, it kind of felt that it just fell apart because of rights issues at the time.”
Nick Castle, AKA Michael Myers from Halloween. Credit: Karen Ruud, ReMIND Staff
Betuel recounted a tangled legal journey involving Universal and Warner Bros., explaining that rights to the film were lost in the shuffle when Lorimar was acquired. “Universal thought they had the rights, but they didn’t,” Betuel said. “Eventually, after years of legal work and filings with the U.S. Copyright Office, we were able to recapture them.”
Now, Castle and Betuel are actively developing a new script, hopefully with Castle set to direct.
What were the cast’s favorite lines?
Guest’s favorite line was to Centauri at the end of the film: “I thought you were dead.” The actor explained that the line was inspired by his love for the film Escape from New York, which happened to be co-written by Castle.
Stewart’s favorite line was “I love you, Alex Rogan,” which occurs during a sequence where, in the background, a truck explodes. Stewart continues, “There’s wind in my hair and it’s all very dramatic and I look up into the sky. That scene had everything!”
Catherine Mary Stewart chats about her favorite scene. Credit: Mike Pingel
Hebert, who played the young brother, Louis, said, “I was not the only reason for the rating!” after his character’s profanity in the film was mentioned. Hebert did not have a favorite line, but he did tell the audience, “I just remember everything being so amazingly fun. It was joyful.”
He went on to talk about his favorite scene, “I remember one that was really fascinating to me, is when Alex and Lewis are in the bedroom, and the Beta unit is taking off his head, and for me, it was fascinating just to see how they were working out the details of it with the prosthetic head thing and the hole cut out in the desk. I think both of us were wearing those uncomfortable wigs for different reasons. It was just fascinating for me just to see that workout.”
Castle shared how Robert Preston was cast as Centauri. “That was actually Jonathan’s (Bethel) idea …. I even remember where I was standing in Lorimar in the offices when he said, ‘What do you think about this … The Music Man in Outer Space?’ I went, ‘Oh my God, that’s genius.'”
Castle went on to recall a day on the set with Preston: “I remember talking to Robert in the middle of a take, and I went over to Robert and said to him, ‘Robert, could you make this bigger?;” And Preston turned to Nick and said, ‘Nick, no one has ever said that to me.’”
Was it a real video game?
The cast revealed that the arcade game featured in the film was never real. Lance remembered, “No, it was just a mock-up video of the same thing happening over and over again with [a] loop.”
Castle continued, “Yeah, it wasn’t interactive. In other words, if he moved this thing, nothing would happen up there. So, he was actually following what he was seeing in pretense.” It was revealed that there was a wooden joystick, and Lance just faked playing the game.
The cast also addressed the lack of The Last Starfighter toys. “I just saw an old set of figures that were mock-ups for sale if the movie was a big hit. Unfortunately, it was not a big hit. It’s one of the reasons there’s no game, and there was no this or that. The film did make its money back, but it didn’t really have that kind of love until video came out and people started watching it.”
Pictured left to right: Craig Safan, Cameron Dye, Chris Hebert, Nick Castle, Lance Guest, Catherine Mary Stewart, Peter Nelson, Susanne Snyder and Jonathan R. Betuel. Credit: Mike Pingel
The only actor who kept anything from the set was Nelson, who played Jack. He kept his character’s hat. “I’m selling it at a discount. It was almost $200 grand when I showed up, but I’m down $150,000. That’s a real good deal!”
(I checked back with Peter if he sold it – NOPE! It was safely in his car. But he’s still taking offers!)
Fandom for the film continues to grow with special screenings and fan events. The film is available on Blu-ray and a limited 4K Ultra HD Collector’s Edition (produced in the UK), which was released in 2023 with tons of bonus features, including a film commentary by Lance Guest and other cast interviews.
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