The trilogy has almost come to a close, as Kevin Smith has revealed that he has completed work on the first draft of Clerks 3, posting a photo of the front of a completed screenplay on to his Instagram page earlier today. He posted the picture at around noon, with the caption "IT IS ACCOMPLISHED! First draft of CLERKS III is 137 pages. Plays like the EMPIRE STRIKES BACK of the Clerks trilogy."

During the press run for Clerks II, which fared rather disappointingly at the box office and in critics' reviews, Smith first announced his intentions to film a third Clerks in 2009. Smith announced that he had officially begun writing the script for Clerks III on his Facebook page on March 8 this year.

Kevin Smith
Kevin Smith is nearly done with Clerks III

The Clerks saga began back in 1994, when Smith shot the cult comedy for a mere $27K at his home town in New Jersey, before sending off to Sundance Film Festival, where it was picked up by Miramax. Since then the has become a remarkable success and garnered a dedicated following and launched the career of Smith and many of the original stars of the movie. The first Clerks introduced a number of recurring characters who would later appear in Smith's subsequent works  Mallrats, Chasing Amy, Dogma, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back and Clerks II, with Dante, Randall, Jay and Silent Bob and co. all expected to return for the final instalment.

No word on when the screenplay will be done for good, but it shouldn't take too long for production to begin once it is done, given that most of the cast and crew are all pretty dedicated to the cause.

Kevin Smith Jason Mewes
Kevin Smith (Silent Bob) and Jason Mewes (Jay)