Update: Deaner ‘89 is technically not part of the FUBAR franchise. In 2019, Paul Spence sold his shares of the FUBAR IP to Dave Lawrence. Lawrence retained the rights to FUBAR and is continuing the series through TNT FUBAR. Deaner ‘89 is a new continuity unrelated to FUBAR. The article has been updated to reflect this.
Get ready to give’r one more time for the first time. Dean (played by Paul Spence), a.k.a. the Deaner, a.k.a. the Governor of Givin’r, but definitely not the character from the 2002 cult Canadian classic FUBAR, is going back in time. Deaner ’89, the upcoming origin story about the first time Dean shotgunned a beer, finally has a trailer, bringing us the first new movie in which Spence plays a metalhead named Dean in 14 years.
Technically and legally speaking, Deaner ‘89 is a separate continuity from FUBAR, with 48-year-old Spence playing a younger version of his alter ego. Though many characteristics may be the same, this is a new Deaner. Dean is a millionaire musician this time, telling of his rise to fame.
Prior to Deaner ‘89, Spence played a very similar character in FUBAR, a Canadian mockumentary that followed the debaucherous life of metalhead losers Dean Murdoch (Spence) and Terry Cahill (Lawrence). The first film follows Dean as he comes to terms with fatherhood and tries to hide a testicular cancer diagnosis. Amid Terry’s attempts to encourage his friend to seek treatment, the pair rip cigs, pound beers, and make life in Calgary generally unpleasant for their fellow Canadians, especially their ex-Party Leader Troy, a.k.a. “Tron.” The pair returned for a sequel, FUBAR 2, which sees the boys getting jobs on an oil pipeline. Spence and Lawrence returned to the characters throughout the 2010s. Viceland released the 2017 eight-episode TV series, the charmingly titled Fubar Age Of Computer. They seemingly split afterward, with Lawrence starring in the Terry-focused series TNT FUBAR and a mobile game in 2020.
Deaner ‘89 opens nationally in Canada on September 6, but that doesn’t mean we can’t start to give’r right now. Stab that Molson and start chugging because the Deaner is on his way.