Vanessa Hudgens, Alexander Ludwig & Charles Melton join Bad Boys For Life

It may have taken far longer than anyone expected, but a third installment of Will Smith and Martin Lawrence's BAD BOYS franchise is now officially on the way. Both Smith and Lawrence will obviously be back, as will Joe Pantoliano as Captain Howard, and now Variety has reported that the upcoming sequel will receive a few fresh faces as well.

Per Variety, Vanessa Hudgens (SPRING BREAKERS), Alexander Ludwig (Vikings), and Charles Melton (Riverdale) have joined the cast of BAD BOYS FOR LIFE. The trio are slated to play a "modern, highly specialized police unit that collides with the old school Bad Boys when a new threat emerges in Miami." Sources told Variety that Smith and Lawrence had been doing chemistry tests for four new roles and that Hudgens, Ludwig, and Melton came out on top. The role of the villain is still in the process of being sorted out. Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah (GANGSTA) have signed on to direct BAD BOYS FOR LIFE, which has been scripted by Chris Bremner and is expected to kick off production next month for a January 17, 2020 release.

Before Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah boarded BAD BOYS FOR LIFE, Joe Carnahan (THE GREY) was slated to write and direct the project before he departed due to scheduling conflicts. When he was still involved, Carnahan had teased that BAD BOYS FOR LIFE would have been the "strongest of the trilogy thus far," adding that the film would have dealt with "what becomes of Bad Boys when they're not boys anymore." Carnahan also said that "there’s a lot of funny shit in this movie, and there’s also a very mysterious, but tonally spot-on story that I think is kind of perfect for where we are in this day and age, where the guys are and reflectively, a very modern take on these guys." Once the return of Will Smith and Martin Lawrence was made official, Carnahan hinted on Twitter that his script, or at least part of it, will still be used.