Adam Sandler Reveals Heartbreaking Rewrite for 'Happy Gilmore 2' After Carl Weathers' Death [Exclusive]

In Happy Gilmore, Carl Weathers’ Chubbs Peterson was more than a mentor — he was the heart of the movie. A former golf pro with a wooden hand and eternal optimism, Chubbs helped shape Happy into the club-swinging chaos agent fans came to love. After Happy Gilmore 2 was announced, fans had been hopeful for more Chubbs magic. But as Adam Sandler recently revealed during an interview with Collider’s Steve Weintraub, Weathers’ untimely death forced a major rewrite — and a painful creative decision.

“We had a painful change. Carl Weathers had a massive part,” Sandler told Collider. “I would talk to Carl, and we were excited, and then Carl passed away. We had to rewrite a lot of the stuff, and even what the story was. We made a lot of nice references to how great Chubbs was in the movie. That was the biggest change.”

Chubbs’ presence, it turns out, was meant to be far more than symbolic. In early versions of the script, the beloved character would’ve appeared frequently — visiting Happy in dreams and even setting up a new emotional arc involving a family member.

“In the first version that we came up with, he had a son. He was coming back to me a lot in my dreams, and he had a son who was mad at Happy for causing the death of daddy.”

Though that story didn’t make it to the final draft, Sandler and director Kyle Newacheck have made sure Happy Gilmore 2 pays full tribute to Chubbs in both tone and legacy. “You can’t make Happy Gilmore without Chubbs Peterson,” Newacheck told us back in April. “It doesn’t exist. You can be assured his spirit is throughout the film. He may not be by Happy’s side anymore, but he’s on his shoulder.”

Who Is In ‘Happy Gilmore 2’?

Image via Netflix

Sandler, who co-wrote the sequel with longtime collaborator Tim Herlihy, has stacked the cast with both returning fan-favorites and a wild array of newcomers, including Julie Bowen, Christopher McDonald, Ben Stiller, and sports superstars like Rory McIlroy, Travis Kelce, and Paige Spiranac. There’s also a new generation of Gilmores played by Sunny Sandler, MJF, and Ethan Cutkosky — all adding to the mayhem on the green. But through all the wild swings and celebrity cameos, Happy Gilmore 2 will carry the weight of a lost friend.

Happy Gilmore 2 premieres July 25 on Netflix. Stay tuned at Collider for more.