Entertainment

Meet Heroin Bob's Son

by Kaitlin Reilly

Punk may be dead, but it's going out with one hell of a funeral in the sequel to cult obsession SLC Punk! The sequel to the 1998 film about a group of punks living in Salt Lake City in the '80s is appropriately titled Punk's Dead: SLC Punk 2 — not only is punk dead, but so is the greatest punk of the original film. Heroin Bob (Michael A. Goorjian) died at the end of SLC Punk!, sending his best friend Stevo (Matthew Lillard) into an identity crisis — a crisis that ended with Stevo shaving his blue hair and heading off to Harvard Law, abandoning his punk ways once and for all. Bob's death may have been the closing chapter in Stevo's life as a card-carrying punk, but as the new teaser for Punk's Dead: SLC Punk 2 tells us, he's not the only one self-identifying with the movement. Get ready to meet the latest Salt Lake City punk: It's Heroin Bob's son.

Yep, Heroin Bob has a son named Ross, and it looks like he's getting in just as much trouble as his father did back in the day. Trish (Annabeth Gish) is Ross' mother, looking as earthy-punk as she did in the original. Ross (Ben Schnetzer) is looking for his own piece of the punk pie, while his dead father's friends have all sold out for office jobs and "paying taxes." The teaser shows Adam Pascal and Devon Sawa (see if you can recognize him without the green hair) reprising their roles as Eddie and Sean who "bought in" to the American way post-punk.

Also making an appearance in the teaser? Heroin Bob himself: Ghost Heroin Bob. (Let's all marvel at the fact that, 17 years later, Goorjian looks exactly the same and therefore can do this.) It seems that Bob may have taken over the narration from Stevo for the second film — while most of the cast appears to be returning for the sequel, Lillard is nowhere in sight. (But don't lose hope just yet — according to The Wrap, the film will feature two surprise cameos. My money is on Lillard's Stevo and Jason Segel's Mike.)

SLC Punk! is a nontraditional "finding yourself" narrative, and despite its very specific time period and location, relatable to anyone who feels a little lost. Let's hope that Ross' journey is just as enlightening as his dad's... albeit with a happier ending.

Check out the teaser for the new film below.

Images: Sony Pictures Classic; Giphy (2)