A fourth “Austin Powers” flick? Yeah, baby, yeah!
Mike Myers is cluing fans in on a potential, long-awaited sequel to the beloved spy spoof franchise.
However, the comedian maintained during a recent interview that he is not at liberty to divulge any top-secret Hollywood intel.
“I can neither confirm nor deny the existence or non-existence of such a project, should it exist or not exist,” he told listeners during a recent interview on SiriusXM, according to The Independent.
The former “Saturday Night Live” cast member added that he “would love to” do a follow-up on the tale of the “International Man of Mystery” — a swinging secret agent, time-traveling from the 1960s, now spit 20 more years into the future since the third installment.
Myers refused to relent to his goading host, who pushed for a confirmation.
“It was a non-confirmed confirmation confirmation,” Myers insisted.
The first “Austin Powers” movie, fashioned after James Bond’s womanizing modus operandi, premiered in 1997 with Myers deftly playing two main roles — lead character Powers and his nemesis, Dr. Evil — alongside co-stars Elizabeth Hurley, Robert Wagner, Seth Green, Michael York and Mindy Sterling. Hurley’s role as Austin’s romantic pursuit was replaced by yet another bombshell, Heather Graham, for the 1999 sequel “Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me.” The third film, dubbed “Austin Powers in Goldmember,” marked the theatrical debut of Beyoncé in 2002.
The possibility of a fourth “Austin Powers” has lingered practically since the third installment left theaters. In fact, it would appear that Myers has hardly sat through an interview in which questions about it didn’t come up. As far back as 2005, he told Entertainment Weekly he “missed” the characters, and two years later he revealed to IGN that he already had “a fully conceived idea” for another sequel.
Following a decade of hints, the prospect was still “looking good” in 2018. Director Jay Roach has also stated, on multiple occasions, his interest in resurrecting the story, as recently as 2020.
Myers, 58, is currently promoting his new show “The Pentaverate,” in which he portrays eight different characters (more like caricatures). According to Netflix, the “comedy event series,” premiering Thursday, dares to answer the question: “What if a secret society has been influencing world events for the greater good since the Black Plague?” It also stars Jennifer Saunders (“Absolutely Fabulous”), Debi Mazar, Ken Jeong, Keegan-Michael Key, Lydia West (“It’s a Sin”) and Richard McCabe (“The Constant Gardener”).
The Canadian comic — whose family hails from Great Britain — has laid low since the blockbuster success of the “Austin Powers” trilogy and subsequent dismal returns on his 2008 creation, “The Love Guru.”
In 2018, the “Wayne’s World” actor resurfaced as host of the revived “Gong Show” variety series, though heavily disguised in prosthetics as a gregarious English emcee named Tommy Maitland. That same year he scored screen time in the Oscar-winning biopic “Bohemian Rhapsody.”
Myers’ latest, “The Pentaverate,” is available to stream on Netflix starting Thursday, May 5.