Adam Sandler forced to make 'painful change' to Happy Gilmore 2 script after Carl Weathers's death

Adam Sandler has revealed the script for Happy Gilmore 2 underwent a "painful" rewrite after his co-star Carl Weathers passed away.

The actor revealed to Collider that Weathers was originally supposed to have "a massive part" as Happy Gilmore's mentor Derick 'Chubbs' Peterson in the sports comedy sequel before he died in February 2024 at the age of 76.

Sandler, who co-wrote the movie and reprises his role as the titular golfer Happy, admitted that rewriting the script was "painful".

"Carl Weathers had a massive part," he said. "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."

In the first movie, the Rocky actor played a former pro golfer with a wooden hand who became Happy's coach. He comically fell out of a window to his death and later made an appearance from heaven.

Sandler explained that in an early version of the script, Chubbs was going to visit Happy in his dreams.

"In the first version that we came up with, he had a son," he shared. "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."

Director Kyle Newacheck previously told the publication in April that Chubbs's spirit is alive throughout the sequel.

"He may not be by Happy's side anymore, but he's on his shoulder," he added.

Happy Gilmore 2, the follow-up to 1996's Happy Gilmore, will be released on Netflix on 25 July.