‘Sharknado 4: The 4th Awakens’ Release Date and Cast; Is a ‘Sharknado 5’ on the Way?

May 06, 2016 01:08 PM EDT

If you haven't seen Sharknado, or its sequel of Sharknado: The Second One, or then Sharknado: Oh Hell No, then you should know that they are bad films.  Yes, they feature a tornado that is full of sharks which wreak destruction, and those lucky enough to survive find themselves eaten alive by the sharks, so you know that these films are written as "so bad, they're good" on purpose.  And it has worked so well, that the fourth one is on the way.  This is what is known about Sharknado: The 4th Awakens release date and cast. 

May the 4th was an appropriate date to release the new Sharknado sequel poster.  Not only is it the 4th movie in the series, but it corresponds to Star Wars Day not to mention The Force Awakens style along with the subtitle of The 4th Awakens.  (Get it?)

I have to admit that it would be difficult to top the last film.  Not because it was any good, but it ended with the space shuttle and David Hasselhoff facing off against sharks in space.  At that point, you can only get Star Wars epic from there if you are trying to one-up your last film. 

The Sharknado films have become famous for their cameos, and CNET reports that the list of cameos include Vince Neil, Wayne Newton, Duane "Dog the Bounty Hunter" Chapman, Dr. Drew Pinksy, Corey Taylor (from Slipknot), Stacey Dash, David Faustino, not to mention Gary Busy and David Hasselhoff. 

Speaking of stars, the central face that you see in the poster there is Ian Ziering, aka Fin.  The other person is Tara Reid, who looked like she had died in the last film.  Of course, it is seems contrary to put her on the poster if she truly died at the end of Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No.  Her name is on the imdb page for the made-for-TV movie, so the jury is still out. 

So with all this hype for Sharknado: The 4th Awakens, will there be a Sharknado 5?  My answer to that is another question: why was there even a Sharknado 2?  It really just makes sense that there be a new Sharknado trilogy, because if you know you are going to do a movie about this unnatural phenomenon every year, you might as well have a story that connects them. 

In fact, is there some story that is connecting them besides Fin and April and their family?  In fact, can we get to the origin of the Sharknado?  Considering that it has been following these characters around from California to New York to space, I think it should be mystical in origin.  Of course, an origin story like that could cause even the Sharknado to "jump the shark" (which literally happens in The Second One, by the way). 

Anyway, for those that want to catch Sharknado: The 4th Awakens, it will premiere on the SyFy channel on July 31st.