‘The Breakfast Club’ gets emotional in first reunion in 40 years

The cast of the iconic 1980’s film “The Breakfast Club” – Molly Ringwald, Ally Sheedy, Judd Nelson, Anthony Michael Hall and Emilio Estevez – reunited for the first time in 40 years during a pop culture event in Chicago. 

On Saturday, the former cast mates took the stage at C2E2 to reminisce about their experiences making the classic coming-of-age movie, in which five students from different high school cliques bond while serving Saturday detention together. 

“I feel really very emotional and moved to have us all together,” Ringwald, who played Clarie Standish in the movie, told the crowd, according to The Hollywood Reporter. 

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While other members of the cast have reunited in the past, this was the first time Estevez joined them. 

“We don’t have to use the cardboard cutout anymore because he’s here.” Ringwald added. “I feel really moved that we’re all together.”

Estevez, who played star athlete Andrew Clark, admitted that joining the reunion was “something that finally I felt I needed to do just for myself.”

“This one felt special, it’s here in Chicago where we made the film,” he said. “It’s obviously the 40th anniversary, and it just felt like it was time. Somebody told me that Molly said, ‘Well, does Emilio just not like us?’ And that broke my heart. And I went, ‘No, of course I love all of them.’ And that just made sense, so here I am.”

At one point during the panel, Nelson, who played delinquent John Bender, said he didn’t think it’d take this long for everyone to reunite. But this time, he, Estevez and Ringwald were together, along with Hall, who played socially awkward Brian Johnson, and Sheedy, who starred as shy loner Allison Reynolds.

“I always felt in a weird way that the work was half done, that at some point we would all get back together – because there were too many questions by everyone, ‘What happens on Monday?’ The film is about the fact that everyone has to make that decision for themselves [about] what happens on Monday. But I felt, personally, that it was one shoe and I needed the second shoe, and that could only come from John,” Nelson said, referring to the movie’s late writer and director John Hughes. 

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“So his passing was profound for me, because it’s like the work will always be in a circle leaning one direction,” he added. “What we needed was the one to counterbalance it, because Hughes explained to us the differences between the young and old. So now is the time for him to show us where we meet in the end, because we’re all older now, but we’re not going to get that, which is sad. But in a way, Hughes has been telling us, ‘Think for yourself.'”

Fans were quick to share their reaction to the reunion on social media. 

“Love seeing this, great movie!” one user wrote on X. 

“Fantastic. Great for fans but I hope they enjoyed getting back together and recognizing what an impact that movie had / has on so many,” another wrote. 

Last year, Ringwald – who had recently watched “The Breakfast Club” with her daughter – reflected on the movie in an interview with The Times.

“There is a lot that I really love about the movie, but there are elements that haven’t aged well – like Judd Nelson’s character, John Bender, who essentially sexually harasses my character,” she told the outlet.

“I’m glad we’re able to look at that and say things are truly different now.”