Dermot Mulroney and Emilio Estévez made a joint Instagram post this week, announcing a reunion of the core cast of the 1988 Western "Young Guns" at a fan event in Dallas, Texas over the weekend. The group selfie included Charlie Sheen, Estévez's brother, along with Kiefer Sutherland, Casey Siemaszko, Lou Diamond Phillips, and Terry O'Quinn. Mulroney's caption made the elapsed time plain: "38 years later #youngguns rides again - PALS."
The images pulled in substantial comment traffic. Fans returned repeatedly to Estévez. One user wrote that he holds "the secret to the fountain of youth." Another said he appeared younger than his castmates. A third called it "the most epic reunion." Mulroney also shared a carousel of additional images from the Dallas event, one of which carried a caption quoting Sutherland's reported view of the original shoot: that he had "never had more fun on a movie." Another post included the hashtag "#didyouseethesizeofthatchicken," a reference that will place for anyone familiar with the original film.
The final image in the carousel showed the full group smiling and collectively flipping off the camera.
"Young Guns" centers on Billy the Kid, played by Estévez, and a circle of young outlaws pursuing revenge after the murder of their mentor. Violence and betrayal run through the plot, and the story reaches its climax in the Lincoln County War. The original film's commercial performance led directly to a sequel two years after release.
"Young Guns II," directed by Geoff Murphy and released in 1990, advances the timeline considerably. The story follows an aging man named Brushy Bill Roberts who claims to be an elderly Billy the Kid, recounting the final days of the surviving Regulators, primarily Billy, Doc Scurlock, and Chávez y Chávez, as former friend Pat Garrett pursues them as a lawman. The sequel expanded the cast with Christian Slater and Alan Ruck. Its theme song, "Blaze of Glory," written and performed by Jon Bon Jovi, earned an Academy Award nomination.