Spaceballs 2: Every Star Wars Character Parody & Who Plays Them

Published Sep 23, 2026, 3:55 PM EDT Sky Blanton is a Movie Contributor at ScreenRant with professional experience covering movies, television, and pop culture. Her published work spans news, interviews, features, and opinion pieces, with a focus on film, franchise storytelling, and the entertainment industry. She earned her bachelor's degree in Communications with a concentration in Professional Writing and a minor in Business Writing from Southern New Hampshire University. When Mel Brooks' Spaceballs hit theaters in 1987, Star Wars was still in the middle of its original trilogy. Brooks turned Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Darth Vader, and the rest of the galaxy into absurd comedy characters, with mercenary Lone Starr and his half-man, half-dog partner Barf at the center of the chaos. Brooks directed and co-wrote the movie, which also took aim at Star Trek, Alien, and plenty of other sci-fi favorites. The original movie ended with Lone Starr discovering that the medallion he'd carried since childhood revealed him to be a prince. He returned to Druidia in time to stop Princess Vespa's wedding to Prince Valium, revealed his royal identity, and married Vespa. It was a tidy ending for a movie that spent so much time mocking sequels, merchandising, and Hollywood's obsession with turning everything into a franchise. And yet, 40 years later, Spaceballs is getting another one. Spaceballs: The New One is directed by Josh Greenbaum and written by Josh Gad, Dan Hernandez, and Benji Samit. Lone Starr has gone into hiding, Vespa is now Queen Vespa, and her son Prince Starburst is pulled into the fight when Dark Helmet returns. This time, the Star Wars universe has four decades of new material for Brooks' characters to mock, from the prequel and sequel trilogies to spin-offs, streaming shows, and an entirely new generation of heroes and villains. Early footage suggests The New One is playing with both sides of that history, bringing back familiar Spaceballs parodies while introducing characters who appear to riff on later Star Wars additions. 9 Bill Pullman as Lone Starr Bill Pullman's Lone Starr sits somewhere between Han Solo and Luke Skywalker, which is part of what makes him such a good character parody. He's introduced as a wisecracking mercenary who'd rather worry about getting paid than saving the galaxy, but the movie gradually reveals there's more to him than his attitude suggests. His mysterious past, connection to the Schwartz, and eventual discovery that he's a prince all push him into Luke territory, while his romance with Vespa and life as a spacefaring rogue keep him firmly in Han's orbit. Spaceballs: The New One gets to play with that combination again through Lone Starr's son, Prince Starburst, played by Lewis Pullman. Starburst isn't confirmed to be a parody of any one Star Wars character, but making Lone Starr's son part of the new story gives the sequel a chance to poke fun at the franchise's obsession with inherited destinies and passing the hero's mantle to the next generation. 8 Mel Brooks as Yogurt Credit: MGM/Courtesy:Everett Collection. Mel Brooks' Yogurt is Spaceballs' version of Yoda, right down to the tiny, ancient sage who lives in hiding and knows far more about the galaxy's mystical powers than everyone else. Instead of the Force, though, Yogurt teaches Lone Starr about the Schwartz, and his supposedly profound wisdom keeps getting undercut by Brooks' ridiculousness. Even the name is part of the joke. When everyone treats him like some legendary figure, he insists that he's just “plain Yogurt.” Yogurt plays the wise mentor role while also stopping to sell Spaceballs merchandise, turning one of Star Wars' most recognizable archetypes into a joke about the franchise's massive merchandising empire. Brooks himself has described Yogurt as a “takeoff on Yoda,” and contemporary coverage identified the character as a Yoda parody when the movie was released. 7 Mel Brooks as President Skroob President Skroob isn't quite a one-to-one Emperor Palpatine parody. He's more Brooks' take on the kind of all-powerful leader who sits at the top of a Star Wars-style evil empire, except there's nothing particularly intimidating about him. Skroob runs Planet Spaceball and sends Dark Helmet after Princess Vespa, but his big scheme is ultimately about stealing another planet's air because his own is running out. Brooks also wasn't hiding the joke behind the character. He has said Skroob was his way of making fun of presidents, while the name itself came from trying to spell “Brooks” backward. He even described Skroob as someone who doesn't know how to make decisions despite being the president (via LiteraryHub). That makes him less of a straight Palpatine spoof and more of a sendup of the absurdly powerful villain who is supposed to be running everything. Skroob's return in The New One means Brooks gets to bring that joke back nearly 40 years later. 6 Rick Moranis as Dark Helmet Rick Moranis' Dark Helmet is basically Spaceballs' version of Darth Vader, right down to the black armor, giant helmet and ridiculous heavy breathing. Mel Brooks has described Moranis' role as their “comic take” on Vader, and the oversized helmet was designed to make the character look even more absurd (via LiteraryHub). Spaceballs 2 appears to be updating the joke for a newer generation of Star Wars fans. Footage released in 2026 showed Dark Helmet wearing a redesigned mask that resembles Kylo Ren's, bringing a little sequel trilogy into a character who was originally built around Vader. Dark Helmet is still the same ridiculous Vader parody from the original movie, but the sequel seems to be letting him borrow from some of the villains who came after him, too. 5 Daphne Zuniga as Queen Vespa Daphne Zuniga's Princess Vespa is the clearest Spaceballs counterpart to Princess Leia. She is a princess from a peaceful planet, she has a droid-like companion in Dot Matrix, and her royal status puts her right in the middle of the conflict. Even the opening setup of Spaceballs deliberately mirrors Star Wars, with Vespa's wedding and the threat against her home planet establishing the parody. Zuniga is returning as Queen Vespa, with her son Prince Starburst now caught up in the latest galactic mess. That gives the sequel a pretty obvious way to play with the Leia connection. Vespa isn't the young princess at the center of the original movie anymore. She's the older generation watching her own family get pulled into the kind of Star Wars chaos she once had to deal with herself. 4 George Wyner as Colonel Sandurz George Wyner's Colonel Sandurz is the guy stuck trying to make the Spaceballs' military operation look remotely competent. The character is largely a parody of Grand Moff Tarkin, with Sandurz serving as Dark Helmet's more serious second-in-command while his boss spends most of his time being ridiculous. Even his name is a joke, riffing on Colonel Sanders. Wyner is back for The New One, which means Sandurz gets to return alongside Dark Helmet after nearly 40 years. There isn't much need to change the basic joke. Star Wars has gone through several generations of villains and military commanders since 1987, but Sandurz still has the same job he always had. He is the straight man standing next to Dark Helmet while everything falls apart around them. 3 Lewis Pullman as Prince Starburst Lewis Pullman's Prince Starburst is where the Star Wars comparisons are not quite confirmed yet. He is the son of Lone Starr and Queen Vespa, making him the next generation of the Spaceballs family, but there is no confirmed Star Wars character that Starburst is meant to parody. There are a few reasons Kylo Ren comes up as a possibility. Starburst is the son of two major legacy characters, which immediately puts him in the same general territory as The Force Awakens and its focus on the children of the original trilogy's heroes. Lewis Pullman has also been described as playing a Kylo Ren-esque character in coverage of the sequel (via The Vulture). Poe Dameron is another possible comparison, especially if Starburst ends up being more of an adventurous pilot than a dark-side figure. But at this point, neither comparison has been confirmed. What The New One has established is that Starburst is an undisciplined young prince who gets pulled into the search for his father when the latest threat makes itself known (via People). 2 Keke Palmer as Destiny Faye's Vision/Cover Images Keke Palmer's Destiny is one of the newer characters whose Star Wars counterpart is still a question mark. She is described as a mysterious palace adviser who joins Prince Starburst in the search for Lone Starr, but the movie hasn't confirmed that she is based on any particular Star Wars character (via IMDB). One possibility is Rey. ComicBook.com pointed to Destiny's name as a reason she could be a parody of Rey, though that's speculation rather than something the filmmakers have confirmed. For now, that's about as far as the comparison goes. Destiny is clearly important to the new story, but The New One has kept Palmer's character much more mysterious than the returning Spaceballs characters. Until more of the movie is shown, Rey is best treated as a possibility rather than a confirmed parody. 1 Josh Gad as Mawg Faye`s Vision/Cover Images/INSTA Josh Gad is playing a mawg, which brings the Chewbacca parody back in a new form. John Candy's Barf was also a mawg in the original Spaceballs, making him the movie's very obvious take on Han Solo's Wookiee sidekick. Gad confirmed that he's playing a new mawg in The New One, rather than taking over the role of Barf (via People). That means the sequel gets to bring back one of the original movie's most recognizable Star Wars jokes without recasting Barf. Gad's character is new, but the connection to Chewbacca is still there through the mawg gag that Spaceballs established nearly 40 years ago. Release Date April 23, 2027 Director Josh Greenbaum Writers Dan Hernandez, Josh Gad, Benji Samit