As Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy and Richard Linklater’s 1995 romance drama Before Sunrise approaches its 25th anniversary, our minds swoon as we were teased this week with the possibility of a fourth film in the much-loved Before series.

During an interview, Ethan Hawke suggested that if it were to happen, a fourth Before film would break the tradition of the nine-year gap and offer something different.  He also spoke on how much the series meant to him and that if they went to do a fourth instalment, it would need to be just as special, but that he and Linklater do ‘think about it’:

“Linklater would want a different path, either a short film set four years after ‘Midnight’ or a feature two decades in the future. We think about it. Those are the three best experiences of my life: ‘Before Sunrise,’ ‘Before Sunset,’ and ‘Before Midnight.’ They are a part of me. So the idea of revisiting it, I would have to believe we could make something as good.”

Hawke even admitted the setting it during this time of the coronavirus pandemic would be an interesting setting for a fourth film:

 “Wouldn’t it be hysterical if the next movie was just them in isolation? If there’s one person to make the world laugh about what’s happening now it’s Julie Delpy. I can’t imagine what she would say about this. And Linklater is such a scientist. He has something powerful to say about this. Maybe this one should be set in Italy. Just go right into the fire and [Jesse and Celine] are singing with all those people on their porches.”

Jesse and Celine stuck in a small Italian apartment, discussing existential topics of love, life and age before singing whimsically on the balcony with other isolated couples… would make a perfect fit into the Before series. For the time being, nothing is confirmed – but we can dream…