Despite its recent behind-the-scenes shakeups, the Lethal Weapon TV series is still chugging along, but this year marks 20 years since a Lethal Weapon movie was released in theaters. However, over the last year, Lethal Weapon 5 has moved closer than ever to becoming a reality, particularly because Mel Gibson and Danny Glover are on board for a reunion. While it doesn't officially have the green light yet, Richard Donner, the director of all the previous Lethal Weapon movies, has seemingly indicated that we'll eventually see Lethal Weapon 5 realized. Donner's filmography was recently being read off, and when they arrived at the adventures of Martin Riggs and Roger Murtaugh, Donner said:
And 5 coming up.
Richard Donner offered this short and succinct update on Lethal Weapon 5 while appearing on Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast. It's not much, but it's certainly more optimistic then when we last heard from Donner about the project. Although last December Donner said that the time finally felt right to make Lethal Weapon 5, a few months later he mentioned that he was now doubtful the movie would happen due to running into problems at the studio. But since Donner mentioned that Lethal Weapon 5 is "coming up," that ideally bodes well, right? Perhaps not all the pieces are in place yet, but if there were still insurmountable obstacles in getting this movie off the ground, then one would imagine that he wouldn't have mentioned the movie at all on the podcast.
As the Lethal Weapon film series progressed, each movie got more cartoonish and filled with physical hijinks, but evidently that won't be an issue for the next installment. Calling it Lethal Finale, Richard Donner has said that Lethal Weapon 5 (written by Channing Gibson) will be "very dark," as the director wants end things on an "emotional note." This suggests that we'd be getting something more tonally similar to the first Lethal Weapon, where Riggs was suicidal and making reckless decisions while on the job, and the villains were nothing to laugh at. Debate will continue among fans about if Lethal Weapon 5 actually needs to happen, but if we're to believe Donner's latest update, then it sounds like one last cinematic adventure for this beloved buddy cop duo are coming back for one last adventure. I guess they really aren't too old for this shit.
Stay tuned to CinemaBlend for any major updates concerning Lethal Weapon 5, but in the meantime, you can always watch the Lethal Weapon TV series, which was recently renewed for Season 3, albeit with Sean William Scott being brought aboard to succeed Clayne Crawford as co-lead. Feel free to also look through our 2018 release schedule to learn what movies are coming out later this year.
