Emilio Estevez Finally Shares Why He Waited 40 Years to Reunite with The Breakfast Club Cast

Emilio Estevez says the recent (and long-awaited) reunion of The Breakfast Club cast came with some “kicking and screaming,” as he has “famously rejected reunions.”

Estevez reunited with castmates Molly Ringwald, Ally Sheedy, Judd Nelson and Anthony Michael Hall on April 12 during a panel at C2E2, a pop culture convention in Chicago, to reminisce with fans over John Hughes’s 1985 coming-of-age film. The panel was moderated by Josh Horowitz.

Speaking on an April 17, 2025, episode of the Happy Sad Confused podcast (hosted by Horowitz), Estevez admitted the reunion wasn’t a top priority for him.

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“It’s kicking and screaming,” Estevez said of his eventual agreement to participate. “This is something that I’ve … to use the word ‘avoid’ is not the correct word to use, it just hasn’t been top of mind.”

He continued: “I’ve famously rejected reunions, whether it was a Repo Man reunion or an Outsiders reunion or Saint Elmo’s. I’ve been very blessed to be part of these amazing ensembles for films that have sort of transcended generations. It’s a blessing on one hand, but then it’s like, okay, the movie had an impact, and it continues to. So therefore, there must be a reunion.”

Estevez said that reunions are just “not my thing,” noting that his lack of participation in years past was not personal. But he said he did get “emotional” seeing his former castmates at the event.

“I’ve said this in the past. I’ve always wanted to look and move forward,” he said elsewhere in the conversation. “I’ve… never wanted to look in my rearview mirror and talk about what I’ve done. If you walk into my house, you don’t know what I do for a living. Right? Because there’s no movie posters. There’s no memorabilia.”

Estevez added that his earlier work may have defined him, but the projects he took on weren’t necessarily “a choice.”

He continued: “There are 200 auditions that you go to before you get into that list of the final three. And then you’re the guy … I was very fortunate to be in the Outsiders and Breakfast Club and Fire, all ensembles. And people assume that it was a choice. Well, it wasn’t.”

Estevez — who played athlete Andrew Clark in the film — addressed his past absence from cast reunions during the panel, saying, “I felt that I needed to do it for myself.”