Now is the time to rejoice and be glad, for Kevin Smith is celebrating the liberation of Dogma with more Dogma. The director discussed the film at the Vulture Festival, outlining plans for a Dogma tour, SteelBook release, and eventual streaming premiere. But that’s not all: he’s also writing what Vulture describes as a “companion piece” to the 1999 film. ” Some people will be like, ‘Don’t fucking touch it. You’ll ruin it.’ And I’m here to tell you: I will,” he said, later adding, “I’m fucking tickled. I found a way in.”
Dogma was trapped for many years in the Weinstein vault despite Smith’s multiple attempts to buy back the rights. (Smith himself refused a few deals that would give Harvey Weinstein profit participation, because “I can’t be involved with that dude in any way, shape, or form,” Smith reasoned.) Eventually, apparently prompted by the need to pay ongoing legal fees, Dogma and other Miramax titles were sold off. Now, the door is open for possible “sequels, TV versions, in terms of extending the story,” Smith previously said. “Something we could never do before. So exciting, man. And all those people who worked in it are still viable.”
“All those people” include Linda Fiorentino, Janeane Garofalo, Chris Rock, Jason Lee, Salma Hayek, Bud Cort, Alanis Morissette, and Smith’s longtime collaborator Jason Mewes. It also includes, of course, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. If Dogma 2 is indeed more of a “companion piece” than a direct sequel, it may not be about Damon and Affleck’s characters, the wayward angels Bartleby and Loki. However, Smith imagines they’ll be involved, since he’s been leveraging the fact that he helped get Good Will Hunting made and they never even thanked him at the Golden Globes or Oscars. “I have been able to hold that over both their heads for 25 fucking years, which is why they keep showing up in all the movies,” the filmmaker explained (per Vulture). “Expect a cameo from them—more than a fucking cameo. The only way we get a Dogma sequel made is if they’re there. So count on those guys being there.”
Lest we all get too carried away with religious fervor, Smith tempered some of the excitement with a post on Twitter/X. “To be fair, I said I started writing a sequel in my head on Thursday night. So a Dogma sequel script is eventually happening… but that doesn’t mean a movie is getting made necessarily,” he wrote. “And while I plan to include Bartleby and Loki, I’ve not spoken to Ben or Matt about it yet.” True believers, it’s time to start praying.