Development
Through the production of the first two films in the Bill & Ted series, actors Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter and writers Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon had become close friends, though after the completion of Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey in 1991, there were no immediate plans for a sequel. The four had continued successful careers in the interim.
Around 2005, during a red carpet event, a reporter asked Reeves if he had any interest in playing Ted again, to which he responded positively. This inspired the group to actually think about a third film. Conceptualization for this film began between the four around 2008. In an interview with MTV in September 2010, Winter confirmed that they had come onto an idea for a plot that they felt appropriate with Matheson and Solomon beginning to work on the script with significant input from Reeves and Winter. According to Winter, "We kicked around the idea over the years and had always thought if we could make something that was as kind of genuine in spirit as the originals and without falling prey to kind of retro cynicism or something that was unnecessary, it would be worth doing" and that "we have finally hit upon an idea that we think is pretty great." Even at this early stage, the concept for the third film had involved Bill & Ted having reached middle age and still yet to achieve the prophesied music that brings world peace. First draft of the script had been completed by April 2011. By August 2012, Dean Parisot was attached to direct.
While Reeves and Winter were both eager to return to their roles, there was little interest in the script from any studios. According to Matheson, the original films were considered "cult-y" by the studios, and wanted significant changes to the ideas that they had established, or even a reboot of the series. Studios also expressed concern that since the first film was not distributed internationally, there would not be a large audience for another sequel.
Finding little traction with the studios, the group began trying to appeal to fans around 2014, being more public about the existence of the script and their desire to make it, as a means to show the studios there was a strong audience demand for the film. Reeves and Winter confirmed that the film was still planned in interviews over the following few years. They emphasized that this was more than just a money grab, but an earnest work. Solomon, speaking to Digital Spy in January 2018, said:
We have a script that we really are proud of, that we worked very hard on, that we've done many iterations of—and we did it on spec, meaning we spent years working on it because we wanted to get it right, creatively. This is not, 'Hey let's all cash-in on the Bill & Ted thing for money'—this is the opposite. This is, 'We love these characters, they've been with us for our whole lives'—Chris and me, and Alex and Keanu—and we wanted to visit them again as middle-aged men. We thought it would be really fun, and funny, and sweet.
Due to their messaging, fans began various campaigns to try to influence the studios to pick up the film for production.
The film's outlook changed after the release of John Wick in September 2014 which starred Reeves, according to Matheson. Reeves' career in the prior decade had been lackluster with several flops, but John Wick had renewed his career, and brought newfound attention to any potential projects he was attached to. This included the Bill & Ted script. Two outside media investors, David Haring and Patrick Dugan, came in to provide the financial backing for the film, and by the end of September 2014, more rigorous script reworking had begun while efforts were made to find a studio. Winter said that while John Wick did help with drawing attention to their script, he did not believe that the film was as fundamental to ultimately getting their film made, since they still struggled with longer-term financial deals from that point. Instead, Winter attributed the continued pressure from fans over social media to influence Hollywood that came with news that the film had means of going forward.
Even with initial funding, it still took several years for them to make necessary deals for the actual production. Solomon said many of these deals fell through at the last minute; "We've been to the altar a few times. We get rejected right about the 'now you may kiss the bride' part of it." During this time, they had secured Steven Soderbergh as executive producer, Scott Kroopf, who produced the original film, as producer, and affirmed William Sadler's intention to reprise his role as Death. By this point, the script was mostly finalized and known as Bill & Ted Face the Music. Winter said that of the concept of the script, "The longer it took us to get it made, in a way, the funnier that got."
According to Winter, they eventually had sufficient funds with a studio ready to go, and had added Alex Lebovici as a producer. They approached MGM to secure distribution, prior to its relaunch of Orion Pictures in September 2017. MGM accepted the offer, which Winter said was due to them having a complete package of production ready to go and the backing of fans. In an unusual move, MGM did not finance the film's production, but only took a 15% cut of the film's revenue for distribution and supplied a US$15 million marketing package to be recouped from the revenue. The film was formally greenlit on May 8, 2018, with production handled by Hammerstone Studios. Alongside Soderbergh, Scott Fischer, John Ryan Jr. and John Santilli were named as executive producers, while Steve Ponce joined Kroopf and Lebovici as producers.
On March 20, 2019, Winter and Reeves affirmed that the film's production was ready to start, and that they had secured a release date on August 21, 2020.
Jack Haven (who wore a surf shirt, and who is gender non-binary in real life) and Samara Weaving (who wore overalls) picked their own wardrobes, and were committed to creating a genderless look. The producers decided to not repeat the anti-gay slurs used by the characters in previous Bill & Ted movies—a decision that was praised by both Winter and Reeves.
