There are a bunch of actors who have made multiple appearances in Kevin Smith‘s View Askewniverse over the past 25 years. Ben Affleck is one such actor, first appearing in Mallrats in 1995—one of his earlier film roles. He quickly re-teamed with Smith two years later for Chasing Amy, and has since appeared in four more Smith titles including Dogma and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.

What fans might not know is that Smith and Affleck had a falling out a while ago, sometime after Affleck’s appearance in Clerks II back in 2006, and the two hadn’t spoken in years. But with Jay and Silent Bob Reboot now on the way, Smith was thankfully able to reunite with Affleck for the project. He shared the story of how this reunion came to be recently, and you can read it below.

Smith shared the story on his social media. Here’s what he had to say:

MY BOYFRIEND’S BACK! When the trailer for [Jay and Silent Bob] Reboot dropped (link in my bio), folks found out a few of our secrets – one of the biggest being that [Ben Affleck] is back as Holden McNeil! The co-creator of [Bluntman and Chronic] and friend of [Jay and Silent Bob] plays a crucial role in the Reboot and his scene is one of the best bits of cinema I’ve ever been involved with: it’s absolutely magical and life-affirming and all the things I really care about now, post-heart attack. But when we started shooting the movie, the scene didn’t exist.

This scene – and more importantly, my reunion with a guy who I’ve missed terribly for nearly a decade – only happened because of [Kevin McCarthy]. Kev interviewed Ben for his [Netflix] movie [Triple Frontier] and kicked off by asking Ben “Did they call you for Reboot yet?” And Ben said no, but he was available. So producer [Jordan Monsanto] said “Call Ben.” I told her “That’s just some nice shit to say at a junket. He wasn’t serious.” A week later, Jordan, [Jason Mewes] and [Jennifer Schwalbach] we’re all pressing me to reach out to Ben, so I finally did. I was scared to be rejected, but I texted him “To paraphrase the sad old King Osric in CONAN THE BARBARIAN? “˜There comes a time when the jewels cease to sparkle, when the gold loses its luster, when the throne room becomes a prison, and all that is left is a director’s love for the people he used to make pretend with.'” And after a long beat of wondering how he’d receive this, my estranged friend wrote back as only he could: “Of course you still liken yourself to a king,” he wrote. And then “Would be a pleasure to see you again, Old Man.”

So naturally, weepy me – who breaks down emotionally during comic book flicks – was a blubbery mess. Not only did we score an amazing scene for the flick, but I also got my friend back – all because of entertainment journalism. Thank you, [Kevin McCarthy] – your [View Askew] themed opening question not only allowed me to make an 8 page sequel to [Chasing Amy] in the middle of [Jay and Silent Bob Reboot], it also brought back a massive missing piece of my heart.

Why the two had a falling out is not exactly clear, but you can get a better idea of what may have played a part in it right here if interested.

Smith and Affleck not speaking for so long is bit surprising to some, partly because we haven’t seen anyone from the View Askewniverse since Clerks II, not just Affleck. After that, Smith went on to do Zack and Miri Make a Porno and Cop Out before taking a detour to dabble in horror with movies like Red State and Tusk.

But it’s also not too surprising because let’s face it, this is ol’ Hollywoodland—it’s not the first relationship to be fractured, and it won’t be the last.

Now…hopefully Mr. Smith can do some more friendship mending in order to bring Clerks III back from the dead.

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