Dennis Hopper’s insane idea for a post-apocalyptic ‘Easy Rider’ sequel: “It is a satire”
Some movies should never be given sequels, and while it’s easy to place Easy Rider into that category because it was so specific to its time and captured a moment that would be impossible to replicate, Dennis Hopper’s ridiculous pitch for a post-apocalyptic follow-up might have changed some minds.
The drug-addled 1969 classic was one of the most influential films of its era, helping to ignite the ‘New Hollywood’ era and usher in a new wave of daring, audacious, and intimate stories made by actors and filmmakers who existed outside of the studio system, but could still use it to their advantage.
It helped launch Hopper, Peter Fonda, and Jack Nicholson to stardom, became one of the most profitable films of all time, and has endured as a monument to the counterculture movement. In practice, it was much better off being left alone, but the film’s co-writer and director constantly found himself thinking of ways to tell another story in the same world.
Of course, it never happened, which was probably for the best. Any attempts to make the Easy Rider lightning strike twice could have backfired horrendously and tarnished the original. Then again, 2012’s combination of prequel and sequel, Easy Rider: The Ride Back, didn’t have that effect, which is probably because nobody remembers it was a thing that happened.
The only reason it was made was that producer Bert Schneider had acquired the rights to sequels and remakes after a legal battle with Columbia Pictures that spanned years, and since there was nothing Hopper or Fonda could do about it, he was free to auction off those rights, which is the same reason why a remake was announced in 2022. Fortunately, that looks to be stuck in development hell.
If Hopper had his way, though, he’d have dragged Wyatt and Billy kicking and screaming into the future, giving their next adventure a sci-fi bent that sounded so batshit crazy that you almost kind of wish he’d have been given the chance to make it, because it would have either been the worst idea in cinema history, or one of those onscreen car crashes that you can’t take your eyes off.
Talking to The New York Times in 1983, the notorious hell-raiser confirmed that he wanted to reunite with Fonda for a second instalment, tentatively titled Biker Heaven. So far, so straightforward, until he revealed the bonkers hook that would only go one of two ways. Still, it would have been something.
According to Hopper, Biker Heaven would “take place 100 years after a nuclear holocaust” in “a world of mutant motorcycle gangs.” As for how Wyatt and Billy factored into the post-apocalypse? “The two of us are brought back to life to restore the flag to the US,” as you do. “It is,” he clarified. “A satire.”
He didn’t need to point that out, but of all the ideas floated for an Easy Rider sequel over the years, it’s hard to say that an apocalyptic sci-fi story with mutants, motorcycles, and patriots to spare isn’t the most exciting. Sadly, it wasn’t to be.
