“Carl Weathers had a massive part,” Sandler, 58, confirmed. Weathers, who died at age 76 on Feb. 1, 2024, played the one-handed Derick "Chubbs" Peterson — mentor to Sandler’s titular hockey player-turned-golfer — in the 1996 sports comedy.

“Happy Gilmore 2,” set to drop on Netflix July 25, almost had one more cast member from the original film included: Carl Weathers — who played Derick “Chubbs” Peterson, the sage handless pro golfer who meets an unfortunate end. Weathers, though, died at the age of 76 on February 1, 2024. The movie did not begin shooting until later that year.

Adam Sandler disclosed in an interview how his upcoming Netflix feature, Happy Gilmore 2, underwent “painful” changes after Carl Weathers’ passing. Weathers played Derick “Chubbs” Peterson in the 1996 original feature.