The Breakfast Club Cast Reunites After 40 Years, Reflects on the Film's Legacy and Why It Wouldn't Be Made Today
Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald, Ally Sheedy, Emilio Estevez and Anthony Michael Hall at the C2E2 event on April 12. PHOTO: JAMES COLETTA FOR C2E2/REEDPOP
A Defining Film of the 1980’s Reexamined Through a Contemporary Lens
For the first time since its iconic release in 1985, the entire principal cast of The Breakfast Club — Molly Ringwald, Emilio Estevez, Judd Nelson, Ally Sheedy, and Anthony Michael Hall — reunited on stage for a reflective and emotionally charged conversation at the 2025 Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo (C2E2). Their panel, held in the city where the film was shot and set, marked the 40th anniversary of the John Hughes classic and served as a poignant meditation on the film’s continued resonance — and its growing limitations in today’s cultural landscape.
Ringwald opened the event with a touching acknowledgment of the moment’s significance. "I feel really very emotional and moved to have us all together," she said, noting that this occasion marked Estevez’s first public reunion with the group. "We don't have to use the cardboard cutout anymore because he's here. I feel really moved that we're all together."
Estevez, known for his typically private stance on reunions, expressed that this one “felt special.” "It’s here in Chicago, where we made the film. It’s obviously the 40th anniversary, and it just felt like it was time," he explained. Candidly, he admitted that hearing rumors Ringwald had wondered if he “just didn’t like them” spurred him to rejoin the group. “That broke my heart,” he said. “Of course I love all of them. That just made sense — so here I am."
The event was made all the more meaningful by the presence of writer-director John Hughes’ son and grandchildren in the audience. The cast used the opportunity to revisit not only their experience on set but also the film’s pre-production evolution. Ringwald recounted how the script was originally conceived before Sixteen Candles but was temporarily shelved when that project took precedence. Initially, John and Joan Cusack were slated to play Bender and Allison, respectively.
Ringwald also revealed that Hughes had first envisioned her in the role of Allison but that she successfully lobbied to play Claire instead: “I wanted to play the other part because I felt like that was less like me.” Auditions were held in Los Angeles for the remaining roles, giving rise to one of the most enduring casts in American teen cinema.
John Hughes’ Genius — and the Void He Left
John Hughes on the set of The Breakfast Club.
The actors were effusive in their admiration for Hughes’ ability to authentically articulate adolescent experiences. "He’s the first writer who could ever write someone who was young without them being less — except less old," Nelson said. Hall, reflecting on his nearly five-decade acting career, echoed that sentiment: "No one matches that. No one’s come close to what it was like working with him."
Nelson articulated a broader emotional truth about Hughes' absence and the creative incompleteness it has left behind. "I always felt in a weird way that the work was half done," he admitted. "What happens on Monday? The film is about the fact that everyone has to make that decision for themselves, but I felt, personally, that it was one shoe and I needed the second shoe, and that could only come from John."
He continued, noting that Hughes' death left a void not just personally, but narratively. "His passing was profound for me, because it’s like the work will always be in a circle leaning one direction. What we needed was the one to counterbalance it."
Could The Breakfast Club Be Made Today?
©Universal / courtesy Everett Collection
When asked if The Breakfast Club could be made — or even greenlit — today, the cast was skeptical. Estevez offered a sharp critique of the contemporary entertainment industry’s shift toward spectacle and away from character-driven storytelling. "Movies today are concept-driven, they’re not character-driven," he said. "Trying to pitch this movie today — it’s about five kids sitting in a library all day in detention — the studio executives would march you right out the door and say, 'Where are the monsters? Where are the car chases?'"
He also emphasized that The Breakfast Club was a financial risk even at the time. "It’s important to remember that we made this movie for $1 million, which by Universal standards wasn’t a lot. It was not thought of as a big, giant tentpole film."
Ringwald, for her part, addressed the film’s sociocultural blind spots. "I don’t believe in remaking The Breakfast Club, because this movie is very much of its time," she said. "It resonates with people today, but I believe in making movies that are inspired by other movies and build on them. You know, it’s very white, this movie. You don’t see a lot of different ethnicities; we don’t talk about gender. That really doesn’t represent our world today."
A Cultural Touchstone, Still Evolving
©Universal / courtesy Everett Collection
Despite their criticisms and the film’s limitations, the cast agreed that The Breakfast Club remains a cultural touchstone. Its themes of alienation, identity, and intergenerational misunderstanding continue to resonate across generations. “I don’t know what would happen if you made The Breakfast Club today,” said Sheedy. “But I do know that people still come up to me, all the time, and tell me how that movie made them feel seen.”
The reunion at C2E2 wasn’t just a nostalgia trip. It was a call to look critically at the past while celebrating what The Breakfast Club continues to offer: a mirror, cracked though it may be, into the complex, contradictory inner lives of young people. As much as the film is a product of its time, its continued relevance suggests that some truths — about adolescence, connection, and identity — are timeless.
For fans who were unable to attend the event in person, full recordings of the panel are available to stream Here.
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