Mel Gibson To Direct Lethal Weapon 5 Following Richard Donner’s Demise

Lethal Weapon 5 was well along the way when it was put on indefinite hold after director Richard Donner’s passing in July this year.

Since then, there hadn’t been any updates about the newest installment in the famous Weapons franchise, but now things are seemingly moving forward, but just a bit differently than expected.

The fifth film has a new director as Mel Gibson will step in Donner’s shoes, according to the late director’s wish, and will also return for the role of Martin Riggs on-screen.

Gibson confirmed that he would indeed be directing the film while speaking at the Experience With… event. As reported by The Sun, while talking about taking over the reins from Donner, Gibson said,

He was developing the screenplay, and he got pretty far along with it. And he said to me one day, ‘Listen, Kid, if I kick the bucket, you will do it.’ And I said, ‘Shut up.’ He did indeed pass away. But he did ask me to do it and, at the time, I didn’t say anything. He said it to his wife and to the studio and the producer. So, I will be directing the fifth one.

This move means that the film might not get a theatrical release at all and go straight to streaming. A report by Deadline suggests that the movie is now being developed for HBO Max, so it might end up on the streamer’s exclusive feature films slate.

The late director had confirmed last year that this film would be the final one in a series that had been led by Donner since the first one came out in 1987.

Not much has been revealed about the project so far, but there have also been hints at Danny Glover returning as Roger Murtaugh.

Fans have been worried about recasts, but if this happens, it will bring the iconic duo back for one final adventure.

About Lethal Weapon

Lethal Weapon is an American buddy cop action-comedy franchise created by Shane Black. The franchise originally consisted of a series of four films released between 1987 and 1998, and later a television series which aired from 2016 to 2019.

All four films in the series were directed by Richard Donner and also share many of the same core cast members, while the television series recast the main roles with younger actors instead.

A fifth and final film will be directed by Mel Gibson, to honor the late director Richard Donner. The film will bring back Mel Gibson and Danny Glover as the two Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) detectives, Martin Riggs and Roger Murtaugh.