It’s definite: Lethal Weapon 5 is going to happen, according to Mel Gibson – and he’s going to direct it too.
The latest film from Mel Gibson as director arrives in cinemas this October. It’s called Flight Risk, and stars Mark Wahlberg in the lead role, with Lionsgate set to distribute the movie. After that, Gibson has his long-mooted follow-up to The Passion Of The Christ that he’s plotting to direct. Following that? It looks like he’s turning his attention to another project that’s been on the stove for a long, long time: Lethal Weapon 5.
Before he died in 2021, director Richard Donner had been planning to make the fifth film himself, having directed each of the others in the series. Following his death at the age of 91, it seemed that plans for Lethal Weapon 5 had been retired at that stage.
Not so. Mel Gibson indicated his wish to pick up the mantle, reteaming with Danny Glover in front of the camera, and directing the action from behind it. Now, he’s confirmed that’s very much the case in a new podcast interview. “I’m going to direct the fifth film in the Lethal Weapon series”, he said in front of an applauding crowd. He said that Richard Donner “kind of tasked me with carrying the flag home on that one”, describing it as an “honour”.
Porcast: Lethal Weapon (1987) and Jingle All The Way (1996)
Gibson also revealed that Richard Donner “had got a fair way into the screenplay” for Lethal Weapon 5, and so the plan is to use much of what Richard Donner had put in place. They’ve been working on the script since, and apparently “it tackles a couple of hard issues” amongst its humour.
Much has happened of course since the release of the last film in the saga, back in 1998. In that time, Mel Gibson’s personal life has seen his fall from the top of the Hollywood casting list to a place nowhere near it. Whether the audience for the films, and for Gibson headlining a movie, remains out there remains to be seen.
But it does finally sound as though Lethal Weapon 5 is going to happen…
