Will Danny Glover Reunite with Mel Gibson for ‘Lethal Weapon 5’?
For as long as Danny Glover has been making movies, it’s wild to think he has never been nominated for an Academy Award. The actor has been working in Hollywood for more than 40 years and only in 2022 did he receive an honorary Oscar for his contributions. Now that this egregious oversight has been addressed, naturally, there’s another thing many fans want to see: Glover’s reunion with Mel Gibson for Lethal Weapon 5. But will it happen?
Danny Glover has been starring in movies for more than 40 years
Glover made his film debut in the 1979 prison thriller Escape from Alcatraz starring Clint Eastwood. And over the next decade, he made key roles in three movies nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. He starred with Sally Field in Places in the Heart, Harrison Ford in Witness, and opposite Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey in Steven Spielberg’s 1985 period drama The Color Purple.
Glover continued to take both lead and supporting roles in major Hollywood movies, including Predator 2, The Royal Tenenbaums, and Saw. In the meantime, he and Gibson re-teamed with director Richard Donner for three sequels to 1987’s Lethal Weapon. Even when Donner directed Gibson in 1994’s Maverick, Glover snuck in for a quick cameo as a bank robber. But following Donner’s 2021 death, is there hope left for fans to get Lethal Weapon 5?
Will Danny Glover and Mel Gibson return for ‘Lethal Weapon 5’?
As it turns out, Glover and Gibson are both reportedly on board for Lethal Weapon 5. And according to Deadline, Gibson is even attached to direct the film. The actor and Oscar-winning director (Braveheart, Hacksaw Ridge) said he wants to make the movie to honor Donner. In addition to the four Lethal Weapon films, Donner and Gibson worked together on both Maverick and 1997’s Conspiracy Theory.
Details about Lethal Weapon 5 are currently scant. Other than Gibson and Glover, it’s unclear if Joe Pesci, Rene Russo, Steve Kahan, Darlene Love, and others will return. However, the story will reportedly serve as the finale of the series and will debut on HBO Max. Naturally, the streaming service currently has all four previous films in the series available for subscribers.
The actor just appeared in his biggest box office hit in 2019
For Glover, Lethal Weapon 5 will find him in a particularly sweet spot in his career. The actor was busier than ever in the 2010s, appearing in more than a dozen films between 2017 and 2019. And his most recent film role, 2019’s Jumanji: The Next Level, is actually the highest-grossing film of Glover’s career.
According to The-Numbers.com, the movie — which co-stars Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Jack Black, and Karen Gillan — earned nearly $800 million at the worldwide box office. Rounding out the top 5 of Glover’s top earners are the 2009 disaster film 2012, and all three Lethal Weapon sequels.
