Super Troopers 3 Cast Reveals How They Get Away With Pushing Boundaries In 2026: "You Can Push It Further Than You Think" (Exclusive)

Super Troopers 3 is set to release on Friday, August 7, and sending Trooper Farva down the aisle was the biggest swing the franchise has taken since the original film. At San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC) 2026, just after the movie's premiere, The Direct spoke with stars Jay Chandrasekhar, Kevin Heffernan, Paul Soter, Erik Stolhanske, Andrew Dismukes, and Steve Lemme to talk about marrying Farva off to Thorny's sister and continuing the franchise, which is now owned by Disney, 25 years after the original.

The consensus across every conversation: a group of longtime friends can get away with more than people expect, even in the year 2026. Chandrasekhar described the new film as "basically Meet the Parents, meet Super Troopers," Stolhanske said the cast felt like "we could get away with some things," and Heffernan summed up their whole philosophy in one line: 

"If you have a good-natured group of people, I think you can push it farther than you think."

Super Troopers 3 reunites the full Broken Lizard troupe as Vermont's Highway Patrol, with Brian Cox returning as Captain O'Hagan, joined by newcomer Dismukes. Chandrasekhar directs from a script written by the full troupe, with Searchlight Pictures ready to release the film in theaters this August.

Below you can find the full conversation between Chandrasekhar, Heffernan, Soter, Stolhanske, Dismukes, Lemme, and The Direct about developing Farva's wedding storyline and keeping the franchise's edge in 2026.

How Super Troopers 3 Succeeds 25 Years After the Original

"It's Basically Meet The Parents, Meet Super Troopers..."

• The Direct: "What's it like making a third Super Troopers film after this much time, and making the comedy work for today's audience?"

Jay Chandrasekhar: Look, it's a show business miracle. We met when we were 18, we went to college together, and I was always like, what we want to do is try to become the American Monty Python. They made four or five movies, and we've (Broken Lizard) managed to make nine. It's a miracle.

• The Direct: "'Snozzberries taste like snozzberrie' is one of the most quotable lines from the first movie. Is there anything that's quotable in this one?"

Chandrasekhar: Well, I think the snozzberries do taste like snozzberries, that's from that Willy Wonka movie, right? You'd have to ask Johnny Depp, or whoever played him before that, Gene Wilder. 

But yeah, there's a lot of quotable stuff in this movie too. That's what happens with our movies, because we write 32 drafts of it. So there's a lot of detailed joke writing, and you kind of have to see it more than once to catch it all.

• The Direct: "Are we ever getting a Beerfest sequel?"

Chandrasekhar: We might. It really depends on if people actually go to the theater for this one. If they do, then I think we might.

• The Direct: "What makes this one the best Super Troopers yet?"

Chandrasekhar: Look, the story is basically that Farva is gonna try to marry my sister, and I'm trying to stop the wedding. It's basically 'Meet the Parents,' meet 'Super Troopers.' And we made a lot of Indian jokes. So I think it's a pretty rockin', full-tilt, R-rated movie.

The Most Unhinged Farva Yet

"Lobsters Were Harmed In The Making Of This Movie..."

• The Direct: "This movie is still pretty hilarious and not exactly politically correct. How much has the franchise changed to keep pushing that in 2026?"

Kevin Heffernan: I think if you have a good-natured group of people, I think you can push it farther than you think. There's a lot of mean-spirited stuff out there in the world, and I think that's the stuff that gets lit up first. 

But if you're a good group of guys having fun, I think you get a little bit of slack. So that's what we try to do, we try to make it feel like we're friends in real life. We've been together since we were 18 years old, and it's like, let's make a group of friends that you want to come hang out with.

• The Direct: "Your character is at the center of this one. What was it like developing that plot in the writers' room?"

Heffernan: It was a little bit of a backhanded compliment from these guys. We were joking around one day, like, 'What if Farva was sleeping with your sister? What would you do?' And then it was like, 'What if Farva married your sister? Holy shit, that would suck.' And it just kind of snowballed from there, 'Would you try to stop it? Would all these other guys try to encourage it because they're so happy it's happening?' 

So it started in the writers' room that way, and then it was like, 'Oh, why don't we do it with Jay's character?' And then you get all the Indian culture stuff, which is also very funny stuff from his real life. It just grew from there.

• The Direct: "What was it like filming the lobster scene?"

Heffernan: The lobster scene was great because they had a real chef come in and make the lobsters. So you sit down, you get a nice plate of lobster, you take one, and you eat the shit out of it, and then they go, take two, and you're like, 'Oh, okay, alright.'

So then you end up eating so much lobster, you end up getting kind of sick of it. But to have a fight, there's a fist fight in this thing built around the use of lobsters, I thought was great...

Lobsters were harmed in the making of this movie.

Giving Foster & Ursula New Life

"There's Still So Much Weird Stuff We Haven't Explored Yet..."

• The Direct: "What separates this film from the first two? What story did you want to tell?"

Paul Soter: I think what we wanted to keep the same were the characters and the character dynamics. But what we wanted to change was putting them in some different situations, other than, okay, we're always seeing them out on the road, we're seeing them pulling people over. We wanted to keep a little of that flavor, but almost think about it like a workplace comedy, what other situation can we put them in? 

And that's why we loved it: Thorny is upset that Farva is sleeping with his sister and now marrying his sister. That's an interpersonal situation that could happen to anybody, and it just gives us something different to be doing than the kinds of things we're doing in the first two.

• The Direct: "What do you want people to know about your character in this one?"

Soter: That it's still same old Foster. Still lazy, still not a good cop by anybody's standards. But he still loves Ursula, and they're at this point in their lives, later on, where things have gotten a little stale. And this kind of becomes the way to make the relationship exciting again, splitting apart to come back together.

• The Direct: "You and Jay have been collaborators for decades. Was there a moment on this shoot that'll stick with you?"

Soter: I would say this Indian wedding. It's doing the wedding stuff, having a big Bollywood dance number, and just being like, okay, there's still so much weird stuff that we haven't explored yet. I just think that's so cool, and people will be excited to see us doing something like that.

The Evolving Comedy Landscape of 2026

"We Felt Like We Could Get Away With Some Things..."

• The Direct: "What was your favorite day on the set of Super Troopers 3?"

Erik Stolhanske: We had about three or four days to shoot this bachelor party scene, and we got to work with this great stunt crew that had worked on Deadpool 2 and some Batman film. I love the idea of trying to incorporate comedy with a great stunt team like that, and that was my most fun trying to incorporate comedy and stunts.

• The Direct: "The comedy landscape has changed a lot in 20 years. How has Super Troopers evolved with it?"

Stolhanske: Yeah, I guess we just try to stay true to what makes us laugh. If you get five guys to agree on a joke, it usually kind of sticks in the script. 

We were trying to push the boundaries a little bit with the Indian cultural wedding, and the relationships, and the mom and dad coming into the picture. But since Jay's Indian, and the other actors were, no one seemed too offended by any of it, so we felt like we could get away with some things.

• The Direct: "How much ad-libbing do you guys actually do on set?"

Stolhanske: We try to make sure that we have a script on set. The original Super Troopers was 100% scripted, right? Because we shot on 35, we didn't have a lot of time to improvise, so we didn't really improvise in the first film. 

We want to make sure that we always have a movie that can just be scripted, so if you were to deliver it exactly as written, it works. But then you get that shot, and Jay will be like, 'Okay, why don't you try to improvise after that?' So we had a lot more improvisation in this one for sure. It's digital now, so it's a little bit easier, not quite as expensive as 35.

SNL's Andrew Dismukes on Joining an Established Franchise

"Actors Are Really Needy... I Need Laughs Or I Feel Like I'm Gonna Die..."

• The Direct: "This is your first major studio film. How does making a movie compare to the fast pace of SNL?"

Andrew Dismukes: At SNL, you're writing an hour and a half of new comedy every week and shooting it live, so you just don't get as much time to really sit with stuff and try things, because it's just kind of like, we got to go, we got a hard deadline. 

Whereas this, it was more like we could find stuff, we could shoot it multiple times, get options. So the process, you just have so much more time to play with.

• The Direct: "What's it like performing without a live audience's reaction to play off of?"

Dismukes: It's hard, because actors are really needy. I'm a stand-up and an actor, so I need laughs, or I feel like I'm gonna die. So when you're performing on set, and you're trying to be funny, but everybody's not laughing because that's what they should be doing, we're trying to get a shot, you're kind of like, 'Oh shit, do I suck?' 

And then afterward they'd be like, 'That was great,' and I was like, 'Well, it didn't feel great.' But they gave great feedback, and we had a lot of fun.

• The Direct: "What's it like joining a cast this established, and did your character, who's dynamic through the film, excite you?

Dismukes: Totally. I think it was kind of fun, because it was sort of like I got to be one of the new wrinkles in an already established thing. So it draws a little bit more attention to your performance and your character, like, oh, here's something that's a little bit new, a dimension that we haven't seen in the other movies...

I think, coming from a comedy background, it's great to be funny and try to get laughs. But this was a fun time to kind of be like, oh, I sort of have an interesting arc, and get to play different types as one character.

Frozen Maple Syrup & Pound Cake

"I'm Just Gonna Eat Pound Cake All Day Long..."

• The Direct: "Take me back to filming this movie. What was your favorite day on set?"

Steve Lemme: Every day is fantastic. I mean, my favorite days on set sometimes are the days I don't have to work...

I know what my favorite day on set is. We're at the Buchanan Farms, this is just a look into the difference between me and Brian Cox. We're sitting in the car after visiting the Buchanan Farms, we've got the basket, there's cheese and crackers, there's some pound cake in there. 

And what I like to do on a day like that is, on the first take, I take a bite of the pound cake. What that means is every take after that they're like, 'You do have to eat the pound cake,' and I'm like, 'Fine, I'm gonna sit here for six hours while we shoot the scene, I'm just gonna eat pound cake all day long.' That's a great day.

If I'm lucky enough, I can eat the pound cake, and then a cheese, and salt, and a pepperoni, and a cracker, and now I just have to keep doing it. So look, my problems could be worse. I'm working, I'm eating crackers, cheese, sausage, and pound cake.

• The Direct: "There's a scene where you're in a huge prosthetic. Was that really you?"

Lemme: Yes. Well, the first part, I'm in the water. And they were like, 'We can take you out after every take,' but that meant they hoisted me up with a crane and dropped me in. After every take, they were like, 'We can hoist you up and take you out,' and I was like, 'That's such a waste of time, let's just make the water warm, and I'll just sit in here the whole time.' 

They're like, 'Are you sure?' I'm like, 'I'm absolutely positive.' Like, 'We can get a stuntman to do it for you.' I'm like, 'I'm just gonna stay here.' So I stayed in there for several hours, hung out, and it was fine. I survived it.