In what is one of his first major projects since the infamous Oscars slap, Will Smith has returned to the film set of the upcoming action flick Bad Boys 4. In new images published by TMZ, Smith can be seen in character as Mike Lowrey, the wealthy, goatee-sporting detective whom he has portrayed across all installments of the Bad Boys franchise.
Production on the upcoming fourth installment — reportedly set for release in late-2024 — is currently underway in Atlanta, with Smith seen in the on-set photos smiling in front of a trailer. Smith leads the film’s cast alongside Martin Lawrence as fellow detective Marcus Miles Burnett, with Euphoria star Eric Dane set to portray Bad Boys 4’s central villain.
While the new set photos see Smith on set of his first major production since last year’s Oscars incident, the actor has kept busy with other projects in the meantime. Shot before the slap, the Smith-led film Emancipation premiered this past December, with the actor elsewhere producing the novel adaptation Brilliance and being attached to an I Am Legend sequel alongside co-producer Michael B. Jordan.
Bad Boys 4 was originally announced in 2020, though production was reportedly put on pause following the Oscars slap. In February of this year, Smith took to social alongside Lawrence to confirm that the fourth installment was on its way. Plot details around Bad Boys 4 have been kept under wraps, aside from the reprisal of Smith and Lawrence’s respective roles. The latest installment of the franchise — titled Bad Boys For Life — arrived in 2020.
Meanwhile, on Chris Rock’s end, the comedian last month released his own major project since the Oscar slap: a Netflix standup special titled Selective Outrage. The show propelled the streaming giant’s Top 10 charts, and made numerous references to both Smith and his wife, Jada Pinkett. It was a joke about Pinkett’s alopecia during Rock’s Oscars presentation that first led to the infamous slap last February.
