The Blues Brothers have been around since John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd created the original sketch for Saturday Night Live in 1976. Since then, many comedic actors and musicians have appeared as a Blues Brother in one way or another, with Dan Aykroyd being the only constant presence in the band, and John’s brother Jim Belushi stepping in as a mainstay for the live shows. There hasn’t been an official Blues Brothers film since 1998’s Blues Brothers 2000, and although nothing is technically in the works, it hasn’t stopped Dan Aykroyd from coming up with ideas for the future of the franchise. And oh man, some of them sure are ‘out there.’
Jim Belushi’s Discovery channel series Growing Belushi is entering its third season, and the reality/scripted comedy hybrid about Belushi’s marijuana farm features a ton of familiar faces from his decades as a presence in pop culture. This includes Dan Aykroyd, as the two still tour as the famous brothers regularly. Naturally I was curious as to whether or not they discuss potential for The Blues Brothers to make their way back to the silver screen, and Belushi did admit that Aykroyd is always coming up with potential new ideas:
[Dan Aykroyd] actually, you know, he's always got ideas. I mean, he's got this whole thing about, you know, ‘I find Jake's brother in Albania, you know. I find out there was another brother, a Blues Brother. And I go to Albania and I find him and I bring him out. He doesn't speak English.’ I mean, he's got all kinds of ideas. The Blues Sisters, he wants to do one with the Blues Brothers but Blues Sisters. You know, he's a creative son of a gun.
Is it too early to start dream-casting who would play the Blues Sisters and their Albanian brother? Although the ideas seem a little silly, I also feel like they could totally work. Aykroyd has never shied away from the potential of reviving his old franchises, as he’s even fought for a potential Ghostbusters prequel and is down for the idea of a live-action TV show. Not that it really matters, as Jim Belushi seems pretty confident that the brothers’ time in film is over. As he put it:
Oh, no, I don’t, I don't think that movie is - I think Blues Brothers 2000 was it.
The history of The Blues Brothers is rather complicated. They certainly are a real band, albeit depicted as fictional characters, and Jim Belushi never appeared in the films. He was supposed to be in Blues Brothers 2000, but there was a conflict with his Total Security television contract with ABC. He initially did not replace his late brother John as Joliet, but instead played a new brother, Zee Blues. John isn’t the only Blues Brother they’ve lost in the band’s 47-year history, as their bassist Donald Duck Dunn passed at 70, and Dan's brother Peter Aykroyd, who voiced the character Elwood for The Blues Brothers Animated Series, passed in 2021. They even paid tribute to him on a 2021 episode of SNL hosted by Simu Liu.
The ways that the Blues Brothers connect to Growing Belushi goes far beyond an occasional appearance by Aykroyd, as he and Jim Belushi are business partners on a brand of cannabis products that sports the Blues Brothers name. Belushi even calls his work in the cannabis industry a “mission from God,” referencing the famous Blues Brothers quote, as he believes access to such medicine might have changed his brother John’s untimely fate. He takes this mission seriously and even once plead with Chris Farley in an effort to prevent him from ending up like his famous brother.
Growing Belushi Season 3 premieres on Discovery channel at 9pm ET on April 5! There’s also a slew of other awesome TV premieres coming our way in 2023, so make sure to stay up to date here at CinemaBlend.
