Perhaps serving as evidence that Mel Gibson and Danny Glover are getting too old for this shit, filmmaker Richard Donner recently confirmed that Lethal Weapon 5 will be the final film in the series. Speaking to The Telegraph, Donner said, "This is the final one. It's both my privilege and duty to put it to bed. It's exciting, actually…Hahaha! It's the last one, I'll promise you that." Details surrounding the sequel that's more than twenty years in the making are scarce at the moment, though it has been confirmed that Gibson and Glover will reprise their iconic roles for the film, with Donner once again on board to direct. We also know that the movie will take place in the present-day, with Riggs and Murtaugh as old men. Additionally, Lethal Weapon TV show producer Dan Lin has said that the script by Jez Butterworth is very "personal" to both Gibson and Glover as well as Donner.
For the uninitiated, the first Lethal Weapon movie debuted in 1987. It starred Mel Gibson and Danny Glover as Martin Riggs and Roger Murtaugh, respectively, a pair of mismatched cops who are forced to set aside their differences in order to catch a gang of drug smugglers. Driven by the duo's intense on-screen chemistry, and a knack for delivering top-tier smart-aleck comedy, Lethal Weapon produced three sequels, with 1998's Lethal Weapon 4 seemingly being the series' last hurrah. In 2016, filmmaker Shane Black launched a TV reboot of the concept, which lasted for a total of three troubled seasons.
While long-term fans of the Lethal Weapon film series are bound to be excited by the prospect of a final film, one could argue that the project doesn't come without its risks. Beyond telling a great story, and featuring believable action for both leads, Gibson is not the box office behemoth he used to be. Back in the 1980s and 90s, Gibson was a god among the Hollywood elite. Now, his image remains tarnished after multiple incidents that have labeled him as sexist, racist, and anti-Semitic. Are WarnerBros. willing to roll the dice on such a controversial figure? Do they risk having to stand alongside Gibson if another one of the actor's outbursts should occur? My guess is that the almighty dollar will win out in the end, as a new Lethal Weapon movie is sure to draw plenty of attention for action buffs and connoisseurs of buddy-cop cinema.
How do you feel about there being another Lethal Weapon movie in the works? Should Donner let sleeping dogs lie or risk waking the beast? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.