The first image from Kevin Smith's Clerks 3 has been revealed. The comedy sequel is currently in production ahead of a 2022 release.

　　The image shows the movie's four main stars--Brian O'Halloran as Dante, Jeff Anderson as Randal, Rosario Dawson as Becky, and Trevor Fehrman as Elias. O'Halloran and Anderson were the stars of Smith's original 1994 indie classic Clerks, while Dawson and Fehrman joined for 2006's Clerks 2. The four actors are on set in the famous QuickStop convenience store in New Jersey, where the original movie was shot, while Smith was working there. It comes via Vanity Fair--check it out below:

　　Ready for another Quick Stop run? The original Clerks was a Gen X touchstone and an indie film breakthrough. In this first look at Clerks III, @ThatKevinSmith explains how he plans to reclaim that feeling. https://t.co/e9ClXfQpv2

　　— VANITY FAIR (@VanityFair) August 17, 2021

　　Clerks 3 has taken a long time to get to the production stage. Smith wrote an earlier version of the script back in 2013, but when Smith struggled to raise the required budget and Anderson declined to be involved, it went no further. Following his heart attack in 2018, Smith wrote an entirely different movie, incorporating elements from his own life. Lionsgate was announced as the movie's producer in July, shortly before the film entered production.

　　The new film will once more focus on Dante and Randal, who, after the events of Clerks 2, now own the QuickStop. After Randal suffers a heart attack, the pair decide to make their own low-budget movie about their experiences there over the years. Speaking to Vanity fair, Smith explained that his own near-death experience directly affected the themes of the movie.

　　"You can't slack after a heart attack. It’s that simple," he said. "That being the motivating factor in our story just gives us a way to leap off into the theme of: There is less time ahead of us than there is behind us at this point. When we made Clerks, our whole lives were ahead of us. Now I know for a fact, a medical fact, I ain't going to live another 51 years. So that means that there is less time ahead of me."