It’s been 35 years since Danny Glover first said he was too old for this sh*t, but Lethal Weapon 5 is officially in development, and expected to skip theaters in favor of an exclusive HBO Max release.
For over two decades, the fifth installment in the classic buddy cop franchise was nothing more than a long-held pipe dream, but it roared back into life in 2020, with veteran director Richard Donner confirming that he was heading back behind the camera to round out both the series, and his own career.
Sadly, the legendary filmmaker passed away last summer, but Mel Gibson was there to step into into the breach. In an interview with Entertainment Tonight, the actor admitted that he’d rather not be helming Lethal Weapon 5 at all, but he made a promise to his longtime friend and regular collaborator Donner.
“Yeah, I am directing that. I’m really looking forward to it. I wish I wasn’t directing it. I wish Richard Donner was still here to do it but left us untimely, and he actually asked me, he said ‘Hey kid, if I don’t make it, you’ll take the reins, huh?’ I told him to shut up. I think it’s an honor for me to be able to carry the flag for him. I called Danny up, of course, and said ‘Hey, dude, is it okay with you if I direct this?’ He said yeah, let’s go. I know Danny’s going to pull it off real well, too. He’s kind of like the show pony in this one.”
A Lethal Weapon movie spearheaded by anyone other than Donner is going to be a bittersweet experience, but with an Academy Award for Best Director under his belt for calling the shots on Braveheart, along with a further nomination for Hacksaw Ridge, it makes total and complete sense for Gibson to pull double duty.
We haven’t gotten any official updates on the project for a while, but production on Lethal Weapon 5 is expected to commence before the end of the year.
