KUALA LUMPUR: After more than two decades since their last big screen adventure, Los Angeles Police Detectives (LAPD) Martin Riggs and Roger Murtaugh will be back in action.
The Hollywood Reporter reported today that actors Mel Gibson and Danny Glover were set to reprise their roles as "buddy cops" Riggs and Murtaugh respectively in Lethal Weapon 5 soon.
The Lethal Weapon TV series' executive producer Dan Lin said that he and Richard Donner, who directed and produced the previous four films, planned to bring Riggs and Murtaugh back 22 years after the release of Lethal Weapon 4.
Lin said: "We're trying to make the last Lethal Weapon movie. And Donner's coming back. The original cast is coming back. And it's just amazing. The story is very personal to him."
Lin, 46, said Gibson and Glover were "ready to go" but the script for the project still had to be finished.
The original Lethal Weapon was released in 1987 and the popularity of the detective duo spawned three sequels.
The franchise was revived for a television series that lasted between 2016 and 2019, starring Clayne Crawford and Damon Wayans as Riggs and Murtaugh respectively.
Donner ruled out the prospect of Lethal Weapon 5 back in 2018 because of issues with film company Warner Bros.
In an interview back then, Donner said: "I'm ready to do Lethal Weapon 5. It's called Lethal Finale. It's very dark. And we were all set to go, and now Warner Bros. is doing their old-fashioned tricks.
"Not Warner Bros. there's this guy who runs the studio who's great, but they have these people in the legal department who do the negotiating in the most counter-productive way that they should be sent to a studio and work with the producers and directors and actors, and learn what makes a film, and then negotiate.
"And it's too bad, because there's a wonderful writer named Channing Gibson, who wrote Lethal Weapon 4 for me, and we have a really great story. It is dark. But I wanted to end it on an emotional note, and I don't think it's gonna happen."
The first Lethal Weapon introduced viewers to the uneasy partnership of Murtaugh and Riggs, who teamed up despite their differences to bust a drug-smuggling syndicate run by Vietnam War veterans.
It grossed over US$120 million (RM490 million) and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Sound.