Riggs and Murtaugh lived long enough to get see Lethal Weapon 5. More than 30 years after the release of Lethal Weapon, Mel Gibson and Danny Glover will reunite with director Richard Donner for the final sequel, according to Collider.
“We’re trying to make the last Lethal Weapon movie,” producer Daniel Lin (Aladdin, IT Chapter Two, The Two Popes), revealed at The Hollywood Reporter‘s Producers Roundtable. “And Dick Donner’s coming back. The original cast is coming back. And it’s just amazing. The story itself is very personal to him. Mel and Danny are ready to go, so it’s about the script.”
Lin was an executive producer on Fox TV’s Lethal Weapon series, which ran from 2016 to 2019.
This will be the first film for Donner, who directed all three film sequels, since 2006’s 16 Blocks. The screenplay for Lethal Weapon was written by Shane Black, and the film also starred Gary Busey. The last film of the franchise was released in 1998. Donner hinted at Lethal Weapon 5 in interviews, but in early 2018 he said it was unlikely because of negotiations with Warner Bros.
read more: Lethal Weapon: Ranking the Movies From Worst to Best
“Following the death of his wife, Los Angeles police detective Martin Riggs (Mel Gibson) becomes reckless and suicidal,” reads the official synopsis of the original Lethal Weapon. “When he is reassigned and partnered with Roger Murtaugh (Danny Glover), Riggs immediately clashes with the older officer. Together they uncover a massive drug-trafficking ring. As they encounter increasingly dangerous situations, Riggs and Murtaugh begin to form a bond. Riggs’ volatile behavior might just help them apprehend the criminals — if it doesn’t kill them both first.
Warner Bros. has not yet officially given Lethal Weapon 5 the green light but rebooting classic franchises may be the next wave. Will Smith and Martin Lawrence recently reunited for Bad Boys for Life, the third film in the Bad Boys series. Bad Boys 4 is reportedly already in development.
There is no Lethal Weapon 5 release date yet.
Culture Editor Tony Sokol cut his teeth on the wire services and also wrote and produced New York City’s Vampyr Theatre and the rock opera AssassiNation: We Killed JFK. Read more of his work here or find him on Twitter @tsokol.
