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Quick: name a great film trilogy off the top of your head. There are Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, and plenty of others, but there is a good chance that the Back to the Future movies were among the first to pop into your mind. And for good reason: they remain highly watchable, fun movies even decades after they were first released. So much so that Netflix’s Cobra Kai has suggested a Back to the Future 4 is in the works. However, one of the screenwriters of the original movies has quickly put those rumors to rest.

Without hitting you with spoilers if you haven’t seen it, the finale of Cobra Kai featured a conversation between two of its creators about a possible Back to the Future TV show. Bob Gale, who helped write the original movies, found that as baffling as everyone else. “I don’t know why they keep talking about that!” he said at the opening of Universal Fan Fest Nights. “I mean, do they think if they say it enough times, we’re going to actually do it? I mean, it’s like they know in every interview people say, ‘Oh Bob, when is there going to be a Back to the Future 4?’ Never.”

This is clearly a sore spot for the writer, who has spent the last few decades being asked the same question. “’When is there going to be a spinoff?’ Never. It’s fine just the way it is. It’s not perfect, but as Bob Zemeckis used to say, ‘It’s perfect enough.’”

While it would be possible that Hollywood would move forward with the Back to the Future franchise without the consent of those originally involved, one person is standing in their way: Steven Spielberg. “[Executive producer] Steven Spielberg, of course, he’s got to sign off on it too. And Steven, just like Steven won’t allow another E.T., he totally respects the fact that we don’t want any more Back to the Future. He gets it and always stood behind that. And thank you, Steven.”

So there. Despite what Cobra Kai’s creators say, Back to the Future remains firmly in the past where it belongs.

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