Between the releases of "Excellent Adventure" in 1989, and "Bogus Journey" in 1991, Orion Pictures had its own plans for the aforementioned sequel. According to the official "Bill & Ted" fan site, Orion was looking for something more akin to the first film. The studio asked writers Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon to write a story featuring Bill and Ted as they travel between different fictional worlds while picking up various fictional characters so that they can get a good grade on their literature presentation.
The obvious problem with this plan, however, is that it is essentially the same plot as the first film. The only difference is the superficial switch from history class to English. However, the writers disliked this plot, and shared their own ideas about Bill and Ted's journey in the afterlife with lead actors Alex Winter (Bill) and Keanu Reeves (Ted). They hoped the actors could convince Orion to change course; fortunately, they did.
"To be honest, Orion didn't really care whether they had us or not," Solomon said. "But they wanted Alex and Keanu; if they hadn't, we probably wouldn't be here now. We got to do things our way, so if it doesn't work it's our fault." Thankfully, "Bogus Journey" proved a worthy successor to the first film, paving the way for a legion of fans and the creation of 2020's "Bill & Ted Face the Music."
