‘The Sandlot’ Stars Tease Bertram’s Return For the Upcoming Sequel Series (Exclusive)

Since its release in 1993, The Sandlot has continued to endure as a quintessential classic. Now, with a new series brewing at Disney+, the baseball comedy’s original cast will be reprising their roles, with original co-writer/director David Mickey Evans coming back as well. Set in 1984, the series will feature the original gang as adults, while their kids take up the grand tradition of the never-ending neighborhood baseball game.

Given that The Sandlot ends by giving each character a brief epilogue about what became of them in their adult years, it will be interesting is how the show ties these narrative threads back together. Particularly for Bertram (Grant Gelt), who famously “got really into the ’60s and was never heard from again.”

Recently, the Alamo Drafthouse hosted a special screening of The Sandlot just outside of Austin, Texas, where PopCulture.com spoke with cast members Chauncey Leopardi, who played Squints, and Patrick Renna, who played Ham, about returning to their respective roles. While details about the new series are scarce, they did tease that Bertram’s return will be nothing short of epic.

“He’s not around [at first], because he did disappear into the ’60s,” Leopardi said. “But when he comes back, it’s going to be amazing. It’s really great.”

It may be some time before audiences see Bertram’s return, however, as both Leopardi and Renna said it’ll happen at some point during the show’s second season.

“He’s gone for a while,” Leopardi added, and said that when he does show up, he’ll “enter in heroic fashion.”

As far as returning to their respective roles, Leopardi admitted that he hasn’t thought too much about it, though he added that their Sandlot characters were really just “caricatures of ourselves.”

“[Evans] did a really good job of pulling out of us what was already there,” said Renna. “There’s a little bit of Squints in Chauncey. There’s a little bit of Ham in me. There’s a LOT of Smalls in Tom [Guiry]. Benny was the leader, Squints was the wild one, I was the loudmouth.”

As far as the film’s lasting appeal, Leopardi said it’s a film that’s simply “stuck in time.”

“Because of the way it was shot, and the time period, it’s what people relate to as Americana. It’ll never go out of style. If it would’ve been set in the 90s, when we shot it, I just don’t think it would have worked.”

The day before the screening, Leopardi, Renna, and Guiry were making the most of their Texas weekend by joining in some pre-game activities at the Texas Longhorns football game against Kansas.