According to Mel Gibson, the long-gestating Lethal Weapon 5 is still happening.
In 2020, producer Dan Lin confirmed that a fifth movie in the franchise was in the works with Mel Gibson and Danny Glover set to return, alongside franchise director Richard Donner. Later that year, Donner confirmed that Lethal Weapon 5 would be the final entry in the film franchise.
Sadly, Richard Donner died in July 2021 at the age of 91. The film was put on hold for a short period of time, with Mel Gibson announcing in November 2021 that he had been told by Donner that he should direct the next film in the event of his death.
Since then, little progress has been made on the film. Now, however, Mel Gibson has shed new light on Lethal Weapon 5. Speaking on the Inspire Me podcast, Gibson shared that the film is still in the works and that he’s still set to direct.
“I’m going to direct the fifth film in the Lethal Weapon series,” Gibson said. “Richard Donner, who did the other four, sadly passed away and he was a good friend. He kind of tasked me with carrying the flag home on that one so it’ll be an honour for me to do that.”
Gibson then revealed that Donner had “gone a fair way” with the film’s script, and that his team has kept that mostly intact while completing the screenplay: “We’ve used what was there and we kept kind of poking at it and working at it. I’m pretty happy with it. It’s good, I had a lot of fun doing it.”
He added: “It’s funny, but it’s pretty serious too. It tackles a couple of hard issues. I’m looking forward to it.”
The original Lethal Weapon was released in 1987 and it went on to spawn three sequels, the last being in 1998. The franchise follows the escapades of Detective Martin Riggs (Gibson) and his partner Detective Roger Murtaugh (Glover).
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