The Leading Heartthrobs Of Young Guns Have Only Gotten Hotter

For movie fans of the late 1980s and early '90s, few films made the lasting impact of 1988's "Young Guns" and its 1990 sequel (even as it has received mixed reviews from critics over the years). Not only did the films feature the talents of leading men like Emilio Estevez, Charlie Sheen, Kiefer Sutherland, Lou Diamond Phillips, and others, but they also put a contemporary spin on the western format and the legends surrounding real-life historical outlaws, including Billy the Kid.

Now, the better part of four decades after the release of the original film, "Young Guns" fever is sweeping the Wild West and beyond once again following a reunion of the movie's stars at Fan Expo Dallas. Moreover, Estevez continues to insist that a third installment — directed by him and titled "Young Guns: Dead or Alive" — is on the way. Whether the project gets to the finish line or not, though, the cultural footprint left by the "Young Guns" gang will remain.

With all the time that has passed since those films were in theaters, though, the performers who brought their alternate history to life have undergone significant changes. They've gone from being the Young Hollywood of the '80s to A-listers and legends. Nevertheless, some would say they've only gotten hotter as they've evolved into leading men. Here's a roundup of what "Young Guns" stars look like today.

The actor behind the baby-faced, gun-slinging protagonist of the "Young Guns" films and the man charged with getting the perpetually in-development third film to the finish line, Emilio Estevez, played William H. Bonney, also known as "Billy the Kid" in the series. Estevez entered the "Young Guns" fray as the star of '80s hits such as "The Breakfast Club," "The Outsiders," and "St. Elmo's Fire." He was also a certified member of Hollywood's Brat Pack.

Estevez was ecstatic to land the role after his Brat Pack run. "At the time, I owned a house in Montana, so I was around horses and guns. So for me, the opportunity to get on a horse and actually get paid for it, and play this historical character, [was great]," Estevez told Yahoo! Entertainment in 2023. Estevez added that he "lobbied hard" for the role, which he won despite not being a top choice initially.

Now in his mid-60s, Estevez is also an accomplished director. However, he has acted sporadically in recent years after slowing down significantly during the 2010s. He reprised one of his most famous roles — Gordon Bombay from "The Mighty Ducks" series — in the 2021 Disney+ series "The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers."

Kiefer Sutherland was acting royalty by the time he hit the scene with films like "Stand by Me" and "The Lost Boys" in the mid-1980s. After all, he was the son of "Ordinary People" and "M*A*S*H" star Donald Sutherland. He played Doc Scurlock — a reluctant gunman, Billy the Kid's loyal friend, and the Regulators' "tenderfoot" member — in the "Young Guns" series.

According to Sutherland, teaming up with Emilio Estevez, Lou Diamond Phillips, and the rest of the crew was a career highlight, particularly the first time out. "The first 'Young Guns' was the most fun I've ever had on a film," Sutherland told The AV Club in 2016. "I had never gone to college, I left school at a really early age, and all of a sudden I've got six really great friends hanging out with me every night. And we were a really tight group, and we just had an absolute blast."

One of the busier actors of the "Young Guns" batch, Sutherland went on to play the iconic counterterrorism agent Jack Bauer in the 2001 Fox series "24." He also counts the ABC-Netflix series "Designated Survivor" among his numerous credits. Sutherland is now approaching his 60s and continuing to work in big Hollywood projects. In the upcoming film "Father Joe," he plays a gun-toting, renegade priest who takes on the Manhattan mob.

For Lou Diamond Phillips, "Young Guns" marked a watershed moment in his young Hollywood career. "Not until I stepped on that set did I go, 'I've arrived,'" Phillips confessed on "The Rich Eisen Show" in 2026. "Wow. You know, on there with with Charlie and with Emilio and Kiefer; guys I was looking up to. And I'd seen Dermot and Casey's work and all of a sudden I was like, 'I'm the brown Brat Packer.' You know? I'm Brat Pack-adjacent."

Phillips had already broken out with big-time roles as Ritchie Valens in 1987's "La Bamba" and Angel Guzman in "Stand and Deliver" a year later. And he continued to raise his profile with his performance as José Chávez y Chávez — the stoic but loyal cowboy of Mestizo and Navajo descent (in the film) who joins the Regulators in their pursuit of revenge for John Tunstall's death – in both "Young Guns" and "Young Guns II."

Like Kiefer Sutherland, Phillips has been basically working nonstop since entering the public consciousness during the 1980s. In 2026, the actor — who's now in his mid-60s — provided a voice in the Netflix animated series "Stranger Things: Tales From '85." Other notable credits include the 1996 film "Courage Under Fire" and the 2012 A&E-Netflix television series "Longmire."

Before tiger blood, his viral first tweet, "Winning..!," and his headline-making HIV diagnosis, Charlie Sheen was one of Hollywood's biggest stars. The son of screen legend Martin Sheen and younger brother of Emilio Estevez made a name for himself starring in films including 1986's "Platoon," 1987's "Wall Street," and 1989's "Major League." In the first "Young Guns," Sheen portrayed Dick Brewer — a ranch foreman turned foundational leader of the Regulators.

Once the face of young Hollywood, Sheen found renewed success on the long-running CBS sitcom "Two and a Half Men" during the 2000s. His marriage to Denise Richards similarly garnered interest. However, his run on the show was ultimately quelled by his off-camera scandals (although the drama was apparently ratings gold). More recently, though, the former 1980s star has been on a redemptive arc. His rise, fall, and return were deftly chronicled in the documentary series "aka Charlie Sheen" in 2025.

"This wasn't a giant mea culpa," Sheen said of the Netflix series. "These are the areas where everybody's been radically misinformed for so long that now I get an opportunity to deliver the stories as they happened, [in the] first person." Sheen is also entering the wide world of celebrity podcasts with a new show titled "Mostly Sheenius," according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Dermot Mulroney may be a known quantity in show business now, but the original "Young Guns" in 1988 provided him with one of his first major film roles. Mulroney was introduced to a wider audience in the film thanks to his role as the prejudiced and rough-around-the-edges "Dirty" Steve Stephens of the Regulators. Mulroney's social media activity helped make the "Young Guns" convention reunion garner headlines.

"PALS since 1877," declared Mulroney in an Instagram post following the crew's 2026 reunion. "Turns out we all have different sides of the same memories! Laughed our asses off this weekend. When @kiefersutherland says 'never had more fun on a movie' #youngguns you know you had some fun!" Mulroney's post included a carousel of photos with several of his "Young Guns" co-stars, much to the delight of longtime fans.

Mulroney is now in his early 60s, but you wouldn't know it from his leading man looks and perpetual string of high-profile film and television projects. He has seemingly been working nonstop since "Young Guns," starring in films like 1997's "My Best Friend's Wedding" and 2005's "The Wedding Date," to name a few. More recently, he played Battalion Chief Dom Pascal in the NBC procedural "Chicago Fire" and some of its "One Chicago" universe spin-offs. He also had quite the age gap with his ex-wife.

While "Young Guns" and "Young Guns II" both feature dramatic shootouts, Casey Siemaszko's Charlie Bowdre prided himself more on his pugilistic prowess than a quick trigger. It was Siemaszko who spoke what became some of the most iconic lines in the franchise lore, courtesy of 1990s rap star Warren G. The speech he gives as Bowdre to Emilio Estevez's Billy the Kid that begins "Regulators — we regulate any stealin' of his property. We're damn good, too!" was sampled for the Warren G-sNate Dogg song "Regulate," which reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1994.

Sharp-eyed fans may have recognized Siemaszko for his role as one of Biff Tannen's henchmen in the "Back to the Future" series. He also appeared briefly with Kiefer Sutherland in the aforementioned "Stand by Me," and starred in 1987's "Three O'Clock High." Outside of guest appearances on popular television series such as NBC's "The Blacklist" and Showtime's "Billions" during the mid-2010s, the notoriously private Siemaszko has rarely been seen on screen.

Now in his 60s, the last credit listed on Siemaszko's IMDb page as of this writing comes via his voice work on the Rockstar video game "Red Dead Redemption II." However, he was on hand for the big reunion at Fan Expo Dallas.

Terry O'Quinn is probably best known for his performance as John Locke — a role which netted him a Primetime Emmy — on ABC's "Lost" from 2004 to 2010. Years earlier, though, he made viewers take note in the role of Alexander McSween, the soft-spoken attorney who uses his position to help the Regulators become deputized amid the murder of John Tunstall.

Despite being one of the older surviving cast members, O'Quinn — who's now in his mid-70s — continues to astound fans with his seemingly unchanged appearance. "Terry O'Quinn must be on that same vampire potion Paul Rudd is on. He doesn't age!" commented one fan on the aforementioned Instagram post from Dermot Mulroney, which included a snap of the former "Lost" star. "That's what I was thinking too lol," added a second commenter. "He looks so young."

O'Quinn is still making waves as a working actor, too. In 2026, he provided the voice of Richard in the video game "Silent Hill: Townfall." He has also played the recurring role of Peter Bach in the 2021 Syfy-USA Network series "Resident Alien" and Byron LaCroix in the 2020 CBS procedural "FBI: Most Wanted." His IMDb page boasts credits dating all the way back to 1980. 

Christian Slater's breakout role came in Michael Lehmann's "Heathers" when it hit theaters in 1989. Although he could have fit right in with the rising stars of the original "Young Guns" film the year prior, he stood comfortably alongside the series' stars after being tapped to play a member of Billy the Kid's new gang, "Arkansas" Dave Rudabaugh, in "Young Guns II." Like "Dirty" Steve Stephens before him, Slater's Rudabaugh is effective in a fight but is always looking out for No. 1.

Between "Heathers," "Young Guns II," 1990's "Pump Up the Volume," 1991's "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves," 1993's "True Romance," and other period projects, Slater was one of Hollywood's most in-demand actors during the early '90s. Now, three decades on, he continues to shine in more mature roles in films and on television as a performer in his late 50s.

Slater was announced as a new cast member of the Apple TV+ series "Shrinking" in 2026. He also joined actor-comedian Jenny Slate to portray a hectic morning routine in a Cole Haan advertising campaign. His recent film and television projects include the 2024 Paramount+ with Showtime series "Dexter: Original Sin" and Roku's adaptation of "The Spiderwick Chronicles."

A low-key star of the 1980s, Alan Ruck claimed a permanent spot in the pop culture zeitgeist with his performance as Cameron Frye in the 1986 John Hughes classic "Ferris Bueller's Day Off." The following year, he starred alongside Brat Pack-adjacent talents Charlie Sheen and Kerri Green in "Three for the Road." He played Hendry William French in "Young Guns II," who joins the Regulators' cause after losing his farm and wife.

When a reporter from The Guardian called Ruck out for downplaying his "Young Guns II" credit during a 2021 interview, the actor responded in delightfully self-deprecating fashion. "You know I was just the widower in that movie, right?" Ruck joked to the reporter. "You don't want to be the sad, sorry guy in a western – you want to be the guy who rides his horse through a plate-glass window and shoots everybody!"

After "Young Guns II," Ruck's run of on-screen success continued with a litany of memorable film and television projects. He played Captain Harriman in 1994's "Star Trek: Generations" (which dropped the same year he starred alongside Keanu Reeves in "Speed"), was a cast member on ABC's "Spin City" from 1996 to 2002, played Connor Roy on HBO's "Succession" from 2018 to 2023, and has continued to stack film and TV credits. In 2026, the 70-year-old appeared in multiple episodes of the HBO Max series "Rooster."

Like Christian Slater, Balthazar Getty played one of the new Regulators in "Young Guns II," namely, Tom O'Folliard. The film's version of O'Folliard is that of an orphaned teenager who becomes infatuated with the Billy the Kid mythos through reading dime novels. Despite his age, Billy ultimately allows him to become the youngest of his gang's new additions.

Getty, who's a member of the Getty family that became one of the world's wealthiest via the mass media and petroleum industries, also starred as Ralph in "Lord of the Flies" the year that "Young Guns II" was released theatrically. Since then, he has been a star of the big and small screens, working with David Lynch on 1997's "Lost Highway" and Showtime's "Twin Peaks" revival (in 2017) and serving as a main cast member on ABC's 2006 series "Brothers & Sisters." He has also dabbled in music. More recently, he appeared in Francis Ford Coppola's 2024 take on "Megalopolis."

Along the way, he worked to distinguish himself from his famous family. "I struggled with it a lot as a kid and overcompensated," he told People in 2014. "I didn't ever want to be labeled a rich kid, because I wasn't. The structure of how [family trusts] work didn't allow me to be at that point. It was very ironic, this assumption made by people coupled with the fact that I had a very tough upbringing."