Mel Gibson to Direct ‘Lethal Weapon 5’

After the tragic passing of director Richard Donner, who passed away in July at 91, the making of Lethal Weapon 5 seemed to be at a standstill until now.Mel Gibson, who starred in the previous four films of the classic action franchise Lethal Weapon, may be looking to get out from being in front of the camera to being behind it.

During an interview in London over the weekend, Gibson hinted that he was interested in directing Lethal Weapon 5. Following Donner’s death, Gibson viewed it as fitting to continue the development of the film as a memorial to his longtimec collaborator and friend.

It has been more than 30 years since the first Lethal Weapon was made, and with Gibson possibly back to star and direct all these years later, it all has the making of an exciting new but old take on the classic franchise. The fifth installment has been in the works for some time, with the most current draft of the script written by Richard Wenk (The Equalizer, The Expendables 2).

The first Lethal Weapon film was released in 1987, starting the careers of Gibson, writer Shane Black, and the humorous, action-packed buddy cop genre. Gibson co-starred in the film as LAPD detective Martin Riggs, alongside Danny Glover in the role of Roger Murtaugh.

After the success of the classic action film, three more films were made, and then in 2016, a prequel television series of the same name was created starring Clayne Crawford and Damon Wayans as young Riggs and Murtaugh. The series ended in 2019.