{"id":35615,"date":"2026-08-10T02:24:15","date_gmt":"2026-08-09T21:24:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=35615"},"modified":"2026-08-10T02:24:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-09T21:24:15","slug":"lethal-weapon-5-gets-long-awaited-update-27-years-later-from-mel-gibson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=35615","title":{"rendered":"Lethal Weapon 5 Gets Long-Awaited Update 27 Years Later From Mel Gibson"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p><em><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/screenrant.com\/tag\/franchise\/lethal-weapon\/\" target=\"_blank\">Lethal Weapon<\/a> 5<\/strong><\/em> may finally be taking several steps forward.<\/p>\n<p>    <!-- No AdsNinja v10 Client! --><!-- No AdsNinja v10 Client! --><\/p>\n<p>It has been 27 years since Mel Gibson and Danny Glover last appeared together as the iconic buddy-cop duo in <em>Lethal Weapon 4<\/em>, but the franchise has never completely disappeared from the conversation. The possibility of a fifth movie has lingered for years, with the project <a href=\"https:\/\/screenrant.com\/the-executioner-movie-adaptation-shane-black-reignited\/\" target=\"_blank\">repeatedly approaching development before seemingly disappearing again<\/a>. Now, Gibson has provided perhaps his clearest update yet, and it sounds like the long-awaited sequel is still very much alive.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking with <a href=\"https:\/\/collider.com\/mel-gibson-lethal-weapon-5-script-plot-details\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\"><em>Collider&#8217;s<\/em><\/a> Steven Weintraub at Fan Expo Boston, Gibson revealed that he and screenwriter Richard Wenk have completed the <em>Lethal Weapon 5<\/em> script. More importantly, Gibson remains committed to directing the movie himself, after the late <a href=\"https:\/\/screenrant.com\/richard-donner-death-obituary\/\" target=\"_blank\">Richard Donner died at 91 in 2021<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>    <!-- No AdsNinja v10 Client! --><\/p>\n<h2 id=\"\">\n<\/h2>\n<p><!-- No AdsNinja v10 Client! --><\/p>\n<h2 id=\"lethal-weapon-5-will-be-the-first-mel-gibson-directed-movie-in-the-franchise\">\n                        Lethal Weapon 5 Will Be the First Mel Gibson-Directed Movie in the Franchise<br \/>\n               <\/h2>\n<p>The fifth movie has an unusually personal connection to Donner, who directed all four previous <em>Lethal Weapon<\/em> movies before his passing. According to Gibson, Donner asked him to take over if he was ever unable to finish the project himself, telling <em>Collider:<\/em><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>&#8220;Donner, God rest his soul, he said to me in this deep voice, he said, &#8216;Hey kid, if I drop off the perch, you&#8217;ll take this over, won&#8217;t you?&#8217; I said, &#8216;Shut up! You&#8217;re not going anywhere.&#8217; And of course he did.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Gibson ultimately honored that request, working with Wenk to complete the screenplay with Donner&#8217;s vision in mind. He believes the result could be the strongest script the franchise has produced.<\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;Richard Wenk and I finished the script, and we were going to go into production, but it just never got the wheels under it,<\/em>&#8221; Gibson explained. &#8220;<em>I think that the fifth script is better than all of the others.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p>That doesn&#8217;t mean <em>Lethal Weapon 5<\/em> is suddenly ready to begin filming. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt16101924\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">IMDb still lists the movie as being in development<\/a>, and there is no confirmed release date. Gibson says the completed project has instead become caught up in what he describes as &#8220;industrial film hell&#8221; between studio politics with Warner Bros. and Paramount.<\/p>\n<p>The original <em>Lethal Weapon<\/em> was released in 1987 and helped establish the blueprint for the modern buddy-cop action movie, pairing Gibson&#8217;s unpredictable Riggs with Glover&#8217;s increasingly exhausted Murtaugh. Their opposing personalities were just as important as the gunfights and explosions, giving the franchise an emotional core that <a href=\"https:\/\/screenrant.com\/lethal-weapon-buddy-cop-movie-aged-well\/\" target=\"_blank\">helped it age better than many of the buddy-cop movies<\/a> that followed it.<\/p>\n<p><!-- No AdsNinja v10 Client! --><\/p>\n<h2 id=\"lethal-weapon-5-will-be-a-more-character-driven-sequel\">\n                        Lethal Weapon 5 Will Be A More Character-Driven Sequel<br \/>\n               <\/h2>\n<p>Rather than throwing an older Riggs and Murtaugh into increasingly elaborate action sequences, Gibson says the fifth movie will acknowledge their age and change their circumstances.<\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;One&#8217;s retired. The other one&#8217;s on a desk job. He&#8217;s putting on too much weight, and it&#8217;s low-tech. It doesn&#8217;t get into the big explosions and all this sort of stuff,&#8221; <\/em>Gibson said.<\/p>\n<p>Gibson also compared the approach to his 2006 movie <em>Apocalypto<\/em>, explaining that the action can remain intense without requiring enormous set pieces. In his view, even something as simple as a foot chase can be filmed with the momentum and energy of a car chase.<\/p>\n<p>That sounds less like an attempt to manufacture another nostalgia-driven action sequel and more like a story designed around where these characters would realistically be after nearly three decades. In terms of when fans can expect <strong><em><a href=\"https:\/\/screenrant.com\/tag\/franchise\/lethal-weapon\/\" target=\"_blank\">Lethal Weapon<\/a> 5<\/em><\/strong> to come fully to life, Gibson suggested that the movie could potentially move forward within the next year if the complicated studio situation surrounding it is finally resolved.<\/p>\n<div class=\"display-card type-screen large\" data-show-streamrentbuy-links=\"true\" data-include-community-rating=\"true\" id=\"6600-4aab-bd689f357483\">\n<div class=\"display-card-main-content-wrapper\">\n<div class=\"display-card-main-content\">\n<div class=\"display-card-content image-column\">\n<p>                        <!--    Rating block community and brand ratings --><br \/>\n                        <!--  Image --><\/p>\n<div class=\"w-img \" data-stnl-group-once=\"m97q0sbROV\">\n<div class=\"body-img portrait \">\n<div class=\"responsive-img  img-article-square\" data-img-url=\"https:\/\/static0.srcdn.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Lethal-Weapon-Movie-Poster.jpg\" data-modal-id=\"single-image-modal\" data-modal-container-id=\"single-image-modal-container\" data-img-caption=\"&quot;&quot;\">\n                                                                                                                                                            <picture><source media=\"(max-width: 480px)\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/static0.srcdn.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Lethal-Weapon-Movie-Poster.jpg?q=49&amp;fit=contain&amp;w=300&amp;dpr=2\" srcset=\"https:\/\/static0.srcdn.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Lethal-Weapon-Movie-Poster.jpg?q=49&amp;fit=contain&amp;w=300&amp;dpr=2\"\/><source media=\"(max-width: 767px)\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/static0.srcdn.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Lethal-Weapon-Movie-Poster.jpg?q=49&amp;fit=contain&amp;w=400&amp;dpr=2\" srcset=\"https:\/\/static0.srcdn.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Lethal-Weapon-Movie-Poster.jpg?q=49&amp;fit=contain&amp;w=400&amp;dpr=2\"\/><source media=\"(max-width: 1023px)\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/static0.srcdn.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Lethal-Weapon-Movie-Poster.jpg?q=49&amp;fit=contain&amp;w=320&amp;dpr=2\" srcset=\"https:\/\/static0.srcdn.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Lethal-Weapon-Movie-Poster.jpg?q=49&amp;fit=contain&amp;w=320&amp;dpr=2\"\/><img width=\"960\" height=\"1432\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-img-url=\"https:\/\/static0.srcdn.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Lethal-Weapon-Movie-Poster.jpg?q=49&amp;fit=contain&amp;w=480&amp;dpr=2\" src=\"https:\/\/static0.srcdn.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Lethal-Weapon-Movie-Poster.jpg?q=49&amp;fit=contain&amp;w=480&amp;dpr=2\"\/>\n        <\/picture>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>                        <!-- User Rating widget --><\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"display-card-content info-column\">\n                                                                                                                            <!--  Display card tags widget --><\/p>\n<p>                                                <!--  Display card community and brand rating widget --><br \/>\n                                                                <!--  Display card main info widget --><\/p>\n<div class=\"w-display-card-info main-info\">\n<dl>\n<p><dt>\n                                            <strong>Release Date<\/strong>\n                                        <\/dt>\n<dd>\n                                            <span><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMarch 6, 1987<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n                                        <\/dd>\n<\/p>\n<p><dt>\n                                            <strong>Runtime<\/strong>\n                                        <\/dt>\n<dd>\n                                            <span><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t110 minutes<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<\/span>\n                                        <\/dd>\n<\/p>\n<p><dt>\n                                            <strong>Director<\/strong>\n                                        <\/dt>\n<dd>\n                                            <span><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRichard Donner<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<\/span>\n                                        <\/dd>\n<\/p>\n<\/dl><\/div>\n<p>                                        <!--  Display card main info widget end --><\/p>\n<p>                    <!--  Display card media widget start --><\/p>\n<p>                                        <!--  Display card media widget end --><\/p>\n<p>                    <!-- Cast widget start --><\/p>\n<div class=\"w-display-card-cast\">\n<ul class=\"cast-tab-list\">\n<li class=\"cast-tab full-width\">\n                                                                                <img width=\"100\" height=\"130\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Headshot Of Mel Gibson In The North America Rights Only\" data-img-url=\"https:\/\/static0.srcdn.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/instar49825179.jpg?q=49&amp;fit=crop&amp;w=50&amp;h=65&amp;dpr=2\" src=\"https:\/\/static0.srcdn.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/instar49825179.jpg?q=49&amp;fit=crop&amp;w=50&amp;h=65&amp;dpr=2\"\/><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"cast-tab full-width\">\n                                                                                <img width=\"100\" height=\"130\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Cast Placeholder Image\" data-img-url=\"https:\/\/static0.srcdn.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/sharedimages\/2024\/07\/screen-hub-cast-placeholder-1.png?q=49&amp;fit=crop&amp;w=50&amp;h=65&amp;dpr=2\" src=\"https:\/\/static0.srcdn.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/sharedimages\/2024\/07\/screen-hub-cast-placeholder-1.png?q=49&amp;fit=crop&amp;w=50&amp;h=65&amp;dpr=2\"\/><\/p>\n<div class=\"w-cast-info flex\">\n<p>Danny Glover<\/p>\n<p>\n                                                    Roger Murtaugh\n                                                <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<p>                                        <!-- Cast widget end --><\/p>\n<p>                    <!-- Where to watch button preview --><\/p>\n<p>                    <!-- Where to watch preview end --><\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>            <!-- Extra content section, display hidden by default --><br \/>\n            <input type=\"checkbox\" id=\"extra-content-6600-4aab-bd689f357483\" name=\"extra-content-6600-4aab-bd689f357483\" class=\"expand-extra-info-checkbox css-menu-checkbox\"\/> <!-- Checkbox: control the expandable behavior  of the extra info --><\/p>\n<p>            <!-- Display card footer --><\/p>\n<p>            <!-- PROS and CONS section --><\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Lethal Weapon 5 may finally be taking several steps forward. It has been 27 years since Mel Gibson and Danny Glover last appeared together as the iconic buddy-cop duo in Lethal Weapon 4, but the franchise has never completely disappeared from the conversation. The possibility of a fifth movie has lingered for years, with the&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":35616,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static0.srcdn.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/mel-gibson-and-danny-glover-as-riggs-and-murtaugh-with-guns-in-lethal-weapon.jpg?w=1600&h=900&fit=crop","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35615","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsweek-trending"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35615","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=35615"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35615\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/35616"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=35615"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=35615"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=35615"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}