NYCC 2019: Watch Kevin Smith drop hints on Clerks 3

Long before Kevin Smith became a filmmaker, a comic book writer, and a podcasting superstar, he was a clerk at the neighboring Quick Stop Convenience (I assure you, it's still open) and RST Video (closed and since replaced with a RedBox kiosk) stores in Leonardo, New Jersey. His time spent behind the counter became the inspiration for his first independent film, Clerks, which launched his career. He would subsequently go on to make Mallrats, Chasing Amy, Dogma, Jay & Silent Bob Stike Back, and Clerks II, and even a short-lived Clerks cartoon on ABC, loosely connecting many of his films in a world dubbed the "View Askewniverse."

Three days ago, Smith with Clerks co-stars Jeff Anderson and Jason Mewes announced on Instagram that he's getting lasagna-eating, hockey-playing, salsa-shark swimming berzerkers Dante (Jeff O'Halloran) and Randall (Anderson) back behind the counter for Clerks 3, the final installment to the trilogy.

Smith is on tour for the release of Jay & Silent Bob Reboot, a sequel to Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back, which is loaded with a chock full of cameos and hits theaters October 15. SYFY WIRE sat down with Smith at New York Comic Con 2019 and got some details about Clerks 3 and how it will differ from the original conception written prior to Smith's heart attack in early 2018, which altered his vision of what the film should be about.

"The original Clerks 3 didn't take place at Quick Stop," Smith dished. "It was too sad and very depressing, it was the King Lear of Clerks movies. We read it out loud and it worked like a charm, but the problem was the last 10 minutes of the movie, everyone is crying... The one we're making now is heart-warming and life-affirming. It's broken and weird as well, but it feels good."

Watch the entire video below.

Additional info by Ernie Estrella.