Even during his post-legendary Hollywood status, Mel Gibson has continued to deliver solid action films, including Edge of Darkness, Get the Gringo, Blood Father, and Dragged Across Concrete. He’s also returned to the director’s chair with Hacksaw Ridge and Flight Risk, while appearing in the John Wick spin-off The Continental. Of course, he’s had a few stinkers along the way (On the Line comes to mind), likely taking those roles to help fund his ambitious The Resurrection of the Christ sequels, which are currently in post-production.
It has been in the air for several years now, but Gibson remains vocal about re-teaming with Danny Glover to reprise their roles as Martin Riggs and Roger Murtaugh, respectively, in a fifth Lethal Weapon film, which Gibson will also direct from a semi-completed script by the late, great Richard Donner (Superman, Lethal Weapon franchise).
Gibson, along with Richard Wenk, who is perhaps best known for writing The Equalizer, The Protégé, The Expendables 2 and Jack Reacher: Never Go Back, completed the script back in 2022, but Lethal Weapon 5 has remained in development hell since.
However, during a recent Fan Expo Boston appearance – which also had Danny Glover in attendance – Gibson gave fans a promising update on the franchise, echoing the same momentum that finally got Rush Hour 4 moving:
“Richard Wenk and I finished the script, and we were going to go into production, but it just never got the wheels under it. I think Warner’s got into some quicksand at that time… so it got buried somewhere, and now I think this David Ellison guy over at Paramount has absorbed or will absorb Warners, or it looks like he will. And maybe, maybe they’ll take the chains off that one, and you might see that in another year or so”, Gibson told Collider.
In the same interview, Gibson shares a little about what to expect from Lethal Weapon 5:
“It only harks back to the others in the minimal way, but it’s a story all on its own. The characters are quite different. They’re older. One’s retired. The other one’s on a desk job. He’s putting on too much weight, and it’s low-tech. It doesn’t get into the big explosions and all this sort of stuff. But it still has the energy and, I think, drive of a big action film. Like, let’s say, for instance, Apocalypto. It’s a foot chase, right? But it’s kind of filmed like a car chase. So it still has all the elements of what was in the other films, but not nearly so complicated. But it deals more about the people in it.”
Now that the sequels to The Resurrection of the Christ are in the can, and David Ellison, reportedly a fan of the Lethal Weapon franchise, is closer to securing a deal with Warner Bros. amid its ongoing antitrust lawsuit, fans may finally get to see Martin Riggs and Roger Murtaugh return.
🔥 Footnote: Before Mel Gibson became Martin Riggs, the role was reportedly considered for Bruce Willis, Christopher Lambert, Christopher Reeve, and Michael Biehn. Willis passed because he felt the script was too violent, while Biehn was unavailable due to Aliens. Brian Dennehy was also considered for Roger Murtaugh but turned it down, reportedly because he had already played too many cops. Casting director Marion Dougherty then suggested Danny Glover, noting that the script never specified Murtaugh had to be white. Richard Donner agreed, and the rest is history.
We’ll keep you updated on Lethal Weapon 5. Until then, here’s a photo from the recent Fan Expo Boston:
Too damn old for this shit
Leathal weapon 5? They should’ve stopped at the second one already…
bring it on!!!! cant wait
Same here; with superhero flicks dying out, I’m hoping there’s some room for this. =)
I can’t see this happening ever since Danny Glover announced that he’s been living with Alzheimer’s disease for the last 3 years. I can only imagine an appearance that’s not taxing on him.
puede poner noticias tony jaa y de bren foster
Mel always smoking his cigars so doubt he be running around and Danny was never into fitness in his films thats why in the photos above he is the one in the chair. in some recent pics of them together it looked like danny was whispering dont move or i am gonna fall over. i can see Mel and Chris Rock instead working better.
The problem was always the fact thart the LW team were split into two camps, andboth refused to work with the other. On one side you had Joel Silver and (potentially) Shane Black. And on the other there was Dick Donner and Mel Gibson.
Now with Donner dead and Silver essentially exiled from Hollywood Mel has the free reign to take over.
Considering that the best entries in the franchise were based around Shane Black scripts there is zero chance that Lethal Weapon 5 is any good. LW4 was so crap, especially the butchered version we received in the UK, I lost interest in this franchise. There’s also zero chance of this happening but I’d rather see Gibson in Mad Max 5 (6?)
Ska, I did enjoy LW4 overall, in spite of the fact they leaned a little too heavily into the comedy and at this point with all of Riggs’ edginess now sanded off as he experiences domestic bliss, the dentist episode with Uncle Benny (side note: how surreal that Kim Chan played an Uncle Benny in BOTH LW4 and THE CORRUPTOR which came out a year later!) should have been a deleted scene on the blu ray extras instead of actually making it into the movie. But the action was good and the Jetster was stone cold menace.
I do find it hilarious though that LW1 started off with projecting Riggs as this expert in martial arts then the subsequent 3 sequels all go on to debunk that.
He gets his ass kicked by the South African villain’s No 1 henchman and only wins by punching , stabbing and finally dropping a giant crate on his ass. He needed to be rescued by Renne Russo and a doberman when he also gets his ass handed to him in LW3 and finally gets owned by The Jet in LW4 (as it should be) and required a machine gun to deliver the coup de grace.
But I do have faith in Mel…not just one of the most magnetic movie stars to grace screens, but it’s easy to forget what a great action movie director he is. BRAVEHEART, APOCALYPTO & HACKSAW RIDGE all featured brilliant and visceral scenes of brutal combat.
Agree with everything you wrote. Lethal Weapon 1 and 2 ( even if they nerfed his skills for dramatic effect in the sequel) are stone cold classics
Braveheart and Apocalpto show a filmmaker at the peak of his powers.
Lethal Weapon 4 though is still a turd and the whole movie should have been a deleted scene!
LW4 was my first exposure to the franchise, so I enjoyed it. Like Rush Hour, the racial stereotyping has not aged well, but Mel, love him or hate him, has movie star charisma that lights up the screen and enlivens every bad joke he’s given to deliver. Chris Rock and Joe Pesci are great comic relief, Rene Russo is there, and Danny Glover provides his usual solid presence in support. And of course, the master himself – Jet Li – running away with the movie despite his ridiculous pigtail and “pajamas.”
It’s a shame Pesci and Glover are too long in the tooth/ill for this. Bring back Chris Rock, bring back Mel, and “somehow, Wah Sing Ku returned” – bring back Jet!
Even back in 1998 ching chong chinky fly lice type.jokes were lazy and shit. I feel like racism against Chinese is still acceptable because its considered as owning the commies. and lol yeah I forgot Jet LI time traveled from the republican warlord era to contemporary downtown LA to save his brother.
I don’t think it’s got anything to do with communism anymore, I think people are just assholes and Asian folks are acceptable targets for them. My black my would’ve whooped my ass if she’d heard about me saying any shit like that to an Asian kid.
You’re right. Unfortunately, given the state of geopolitics, it’s likely that the Chinese will remain a convenient villain, given that anti-China sentiment is the one issue both left and right can agree on, and the fact that it’s the most consequence-free racism available today.
I don’t know anything about that. “Consequence-free racism” wouldn’t be normalized if people spoke out, and thankfully some people do it properly in spite of the virtue signalers.
I think there’s a good mix of villains out there in the film world, and most modern films with Asian villains thankfully don’t go into the territory of the imaginary “yellow scare.”
You’re not wrong. More people should speak out against stereotypical and harmful depictions onscreen, both overt and covert. Asian-Americans aren’t a sizable enough demographic to make a meaningful difference to the box office of a film. But if non-Asians spoke up as well and expressed an intent to boycott films with degrading stereotypes, I think we’d see a difference.
And that goes for everyone – all of us should speak up against all injustices, regardless of whether our particular group is the target. As Ip Man said in Ip Man 4, as martial artists (or martial arts film fans), whenever we witness wrongs being committed, it’s our responsibility to stand up and be counted.
Considering how many successful films and tv shows we’ve had with a predominantly Asian American cast, there really should be a difference.
It seems like the people in charge are shocked when they’re successful, and don’t want to acknowledge these projects when they should be happy that they’re making money off them.
Has there been a succesful TV show or movie with a mostly all Asian American cast? Only Fresh off the boat comes to mind.
The first season was pretty good and attempted to highlight some of the issues a Asian American Chinese.
kid would have at school and at home. They removed all of that for Season 2 and the show became really vanilla except for Constance Wu’s accent.
I agree with the comments saying Chris Rock should get more screen time and the spotlight as Mel’s partner, especially given Danny’s condition.
They can absolutely make this work. There’s plenty of comedy to be mined from the characters getting older, and I’d be totally game for it. Stereotypes and all. 😉 As an Asian, I find that stuff hilarious.
We can’t have Lethal Weapon without Murtaugh. Riggs may have been the heart, but Murtaugh was the soul of the series. It just doesn’t feel right. If we’re not getting another Die Hard, it shouldn’t be a problem to not get another Lethal Weapon and let this series be remembered fondly.
Plus, I don’t think Chris Rock wants to work with Gibson again after his psycho rant from years back. Time doesn’t heal all bullshit.