Featuring a write-up on the Happy Gilmore sequel’s easter egg on Ms. Boyce’s Instagram, she shared that the pair had kept in touch before Cameron Boyce’s untimely passing in 2019. It was through those conversations that a long-discussed reteaming was hatched, with Libby Boyce confirming in the following statement:

The mother of Cameron Boyce has thanked Adam Sandler for honouring her late son in his new movie Happy Gilmore 2. Boyce starred alongside Sandler in Grown Ups (2010) and Grown Ups 2 (2013) before his sudden death in 2019, aged just 20, following a fatal epileptic attack.