Actor and comedian Adam Sandler, who is set to reprise his role as Happy Gilmore in the sequel to his beloved 1996 sports comedy, revealed that Weathers’ Derick “Chubbs” Peterson was planning to return for the new movie before he passed away in 2024 at age 76.
“We had a painful change. Carl Weathers had a massive part,” Sandler shared. “I would talk to Carl, and we were excited, and then Carl passed away. We had to rewrite a lot of the stuff, including what the story was. We made a lot of nice references to how great Chubbs was in the movie. That was the biggest change,” Sandler recently told Collider
Sandler further stated that in initial drafts of the sequel’s script, Chubbs had a much larger presence. “In the first version that we came up with, he had a son,” he said. “He was coming back to me a lot in my dreams, and he had a son who was mad at Happy for causing the death of daddy,” he continued
Weathers played Chubbs, a pro golfer who is forced to retire after his hand is bitten off by an alligator, having to use a wooden hand, in 1996’s Happy Gilmore.
Directed by Kyle Newacheck, Happy Gilmore 2 will premiere on Netflix on July 25. Besides Sandler, Christopher McDonald, Julie Bowen, and Ben Stiller will also reprise their roles from the original film, while new cast members include Bad Bunny, Margaret Qualley, Benny Safdie, Travis Kelce, and Kym Whitley.
Following Weathers’ death, Sandler took to social media to pay tribute to his former co-star. “A true great man. Great dad. Great actor. Great athlete,” he wrote at the time. “So much fun to be around always. Smart as hell. Loyal as hell. Funny as hell. Loved his sons more than anything. What a guy!!”
“We had a painful change. Carl Weathers had a massive part,” Sandler shared. “I would talk to Carl, and we were excited, and then Carl passed away. We had to rewrite a lot of the stuff, including what the story was. We made a lot of nice references to how great Chubbs was in the movie. That was the biggest change,” Sandler recently told Collider
Sandler further stated that in initial drafts of the sequel’s script, Chubbs had a much larger presence. “In the first version that we came up with, he had a son,” he said. “He was coming back to me a lot in my dreams, and he had a son who was mad at Happy for causing the death of daddy,” he continued
Weathers played Chubbs, a pro golfer who is forced to retire after his hand is bitten off by an alligator, having to use a wooden hand, in 1996’s Happy Gilmore.
Directed by Kyle Newacheck, Happy Gilmore 2 will premiere on Netflix on July 25. Besides Sandler, Christopher McDonald, Julie Bowen, and Ben Stiller will also reprise their roles from the original film, while new cast members include Bad Bunny, Margaret Qualley, Benny Safdie, Travis Kelce, and Kym Whitley.
Following Weathers’ death, Sandler took to social media to pay tribute to his former co-star. “A true great man. Great dad. Great actor. Great athlete,” he wrote at the time. “So much fun to be around always. Smart as hell. Loyal as hell. Funny as hell. Loved his sons more than anything. What a guy!!”
