Richard Donner says Lethal Weapon 5 is close to getting the green light

Lethal Weapon is one of the greatest gems spawned from the 1980s. It’s the definitive buddy cop film starring Mel Gibson and Danny Glover, it’s a fun thrill ride set in LA during the holiday season and it doesn’t take itself too seriously. Two cops, the wild and unpredictable Riggs (Gibson) and the straight-arrow family man Murtaugh (Glover), form an unlikely friendship when they’re partnered together on the case of a lifetime The film was successful enough for three sequels to rise in the following years but the series has been dormant since the 90s.

There has been talks of a fifth entry in the series for many years which would reunite the two cops but nothing has come to fruition. A story has been created by series director Richard Donner and writer Channing Gibson which Mel Gibson and Danny Glover are fond of but it has yet to be greenlit by the studio.

Donner recently spoke on a podcast called Spocklight and said that the film is “inches away from getting the go-ahead,”, he seems pretty confident that the film will see the light of day but isn’t guaranteeing anything 100%.

“It’s a story I came up with Channing Gibson, the writer who wrote [Lethal Weapon] 4, and I’m just having to work it out with the studio. If everybody steps up and we all get together, we’ll make it. Mel and Danny are on board. If they don’t… if it doesn’t work out, at least we tried. But there’s a good… a better chance that you will see the movie.”

Lethal Weapon 5 has no release date but we’ll likely hear something in early 2018.