The best spy comedy character of all time could be coming back for an unprecedented fourth installment. While the world waits to see who the next James Bond actor might be, rest assured, the International Man of Mystery, Austin Powers, will never, ever be recast.
Speaking to TooFab in November, and then, widely reported by JoBlo this week, SNL comedy legend Mike Myers admitted that a fourth film in the Austin Powers franchise would, more likely than not, be happening sometime very soon.
“I would be surprised if it didn't,” Myers said when asked directly at the Vulture festival in Los Angeles. When pressed for details about a sixth movie in the Shrek franchise, Myers was equally evasive, saying, “I can neither confirm nor deny the existence or nonexistence of any element that I should or should not say.”
Those of us who grew up on Myers on SNL will probably forever associate him with Wayne from Wayne’s World, but it’s hard to deny the massive impact of the Austin Powers films. The first one hit in 1997, the same year as a bonafide James Bond movie, Tomorrow Never Dies was in theaters, too. And, while the first Austin Powers didn’t beat Bond at the box office in 1997, in 1999, the second film, The Spy Who Shagged Me, was the third-highest grossing movie in 1999, just behind Phantom Menace and The Matrix. This also meant that The Spy Who Shagged Me was the first James Bond spoof to beat a James Bond movie outright at the box office—Pierce Brosnan’s The World is Not Enough was only the 12th-biggest movie in 1999.
Related: Best James Bond Movies of All Time, Ranked
History repeated itself again in 2002, when the third Austin Powers movie, Goldmember, defeated Die Another Day at the box office, ranking 7th overall that year, while Pierce Brosnan’s swan song ranked 13th that year.
But is Austin Powers truly a James Bond spoof series? Arguably, the infamous frilly shirt worn by Austin Powers (known as a Jabot or a “Poet shirt”) was only worn by one Bond in any of the films—George Lazenby in 1969’s On Her Majesty's Secret Service. Prior to that, the most famous British action hero who dressed like Austin Powers was the third version of Doctor Who, played by Jon Pertwee from 1970 to 1974. Suspiciously, he also had a goofy car that seemed straight out of Austin Powers, too.
This is all to say that if Mike Myers does reboot Austin Powers for the modern era, there’s a chance he won’t just be spoofing Bond. And that’s because the zany pop culture roots of Austin Powers run deep.
The original Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery is streaming on AMC+.
Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me is available for rent on YouTube, Amazon, Apple, and elsewhere.
Austin Powers in Goldmember is available for rent on YouTube, Amazon, Apple, and elsewhere.
