Before 4: Ethan Hawke Would ‘Definitely’ Return If Richard Linklater Wrote New Sequel

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Before 4: Ethan Hawke Would ‘Definitely’ Return If Richard Linklater Wrote New Sequel

Ethan Hawke is ready to return to the Before film series should filmmaker Richard Linklater want to do so, the actor recently revealed.

Speaking to IndieWire, Hawke said he would “definitely” be up for a fourth film, so long as both Linklater — who wrote and directed all three films — and Julie Delphy return for the project.

“The whole reason those movies worked the way they did is because all three of us were like-minded. It would have to be the three of us all feeling the same impulse,” said Hawke.

Hawke starred in the Before trilogy alongside Julie Delpy, in 1995’s Before Sunrise, 2004’s Before Sunset, and 2013’s Before Midnight. The trilogy was set and filmed in nine year intervals, and chronicles the romantic relationship between Jesse (Hawke) and Céline (Delpy) during different periods of their lives.

A fourth Before film has been discussed in the past

Linklater, Hawke, and Delpy have all discussed potentially making a fourth film in the series before; however, Delpy told Variety in 2021 that the project likely wasn’t going to happen.

“What happened was that we — all three of us — agreed that we couldn’t come up with something good for a fourth one,” she said. “It’s that simple. We didn’t fight. We’re not on bad terms. Everyone’s happy…It’s so much drama for nothing. We just didn’t come up with a good idea.”

Linklater told Collider in 2022 about a potential fourth Before film, “You never say never. I think we missed our window. It should be coming out, or we should have…It should be coming out now, but we haven’t…The great idea didn’t really gel. I think the last one took a lot out of us. I don’t know.”