Well, you’ve gotta hand it to Kevin Smith… even as he is on the verge of leaving the movie industry altogether, somehow he is managing to keep his foot in the door and the conversation focused on him. Just yesterday we posted the news that his upcoming hockey film Hit Somebody was going to become a TV mini-series, which meant that if he really was going to retire from directing, Red State just became his final film. But before any of us actually had time to let that news sink in, Smith has taken to the internet once again to start plugging yet another “final” project. As it turns out, he is hoping to return to the characters that started his career and close off the trilogy with Clerks III.

The actual announcement came on Twitter earlier today, where Smith had the following to say:

“Since HIT SOMEBODY is now gonna be a mini-series, yes – that leaves room for a new final flick before I retire from directing feature films… So with the HIT SOMEBODY shift, the minute Jeff Anderson signs on, my last cinematic effort as a writer/director will be CLERKS III. #TaDa”

It’s not the first time he has talked about making a third Clerks film, as he had previously hinted that he would consider revisiting Dante and Randall in their late ’40s when he was also in his late ’40s. Since Smith is only 42 now, that would put the movie at least a few years away. Does this mean that he is moving the timeline up a bit?

My guess is that he is still not committed to making the film right away, he is simply letting everyone know that he’s not done making movies just yet. However, it’s interesting that Jeff Anderson is apparently the hold out and that Smith is using this opportunity to put some pressure on him. Based on how Clerks II turned out, maybe Jeff Anderson knows what he’s doing. What do you think, is Clerks III an appropriate way for Kevin Smith to retire from filmmaking? Is Smith just unable to let go or do you see potential in revisiting these characters one last time?