Mel Gibson has revealed the first real plot details for Lethal Weapon 5, and he rates the finished script above all four films that came before it.
Speaking to Collider at Fan Expo Boston, Gibson said Richard Donner was already developing a fifth entry at 90 when he died in 2021. Gibson finished the screenplay with Richard Wenk, one question in the room: “What would Donner do?”
“So I got together with the writer, and we completed it thinking, ‘What would Donner do?’ That’s what we were thinking in the room, and I think that the fifth script is better than all of the others. But it’s tied up in some kind of industrial film hell that you can’t extract it from to make it.”
Mel Gibson, to Collider
The plot is a deliberate step down in scale. Set decades after Lethal Weapon 4, Riggs and Murtaugh are older — one retired, the other on a desk job and putting on weight — and the film stays low-tech by design.
“It only harks back to the others in the minimal way, but it’s a story all on its own. The characters are quite different. They’re older. One’s retired. The other one’s on a desk job. He’s putting on too much weight, and it’s low-tech. It doesn’t get into the big explosions and all this sort of stuff. But it still has the energy and, I think, drive of a big action film. Like, let’s say for instance, Apocalypto. It’s a foot chase, right? But it’s kind of filmed like a car chase.”
Mel Gibson, to Collider
Gibson said he would direct it himself, without hesitation. Donner had already asked him to take over the franchise if he could not finish it.
“Donner, God rest his soul, he said to me in this deep voice, he said, ‘Hey kid, if I drop off the perch, you’ll take this over, won’t you?’ I said, ‘Shut up! You’re not going anywhere.’”
Mel Gibson, to Collider
The script has been sitting at Warner Bros. since. Gibson blames the studio’s own troubles, and his hope now rests on the Paramount absorption — the Paramount-Warner Bros. deal is delayed by an antitrust case, and a US judge froze the merger in July.
“I think Warner’s got into some quicksand at that time… so it got buried somewhere, and now I think this David Ellison guy over at Paramount has absorbed or will absorb Warners, or it looks like he will. And maybe, maybe they’ll take the chains off that one, and you might see that in another year or so.”
Mel Gibson, to Collider
The other question is Danny Glover, who revealed an Alzheimer’s diagnosis in July. Gibson still believes the film can be made. For now, Lethal Weapon 5 exists as a finished script, a confirmed director and no release date.
Will Mel Gibson direct Lethal Weapon 5?
Yes. Gibson told Collider he would direct the film without hesitation, honouring a request Richard Donner made before his death in 2021: if he could not finish the fifth film himself, Gibson would take over.
What is the plot of Lethal Weapon 5?
Set decades after Lethal Weapon 4, Riggs and Murtaugh are older — one retired, the other on a desk job and putting on weight. Gibson describes a deliberately low-tech story that keeps the energy of a big action film but avoids the explosions the sequels leaned on.
When will Lethal Weapon 5 be released?
There is no release date. Gibson finished the script with Richard Wenk but says it is stuck at Warner Bros, and hopes the Paramount absorption of the studio frees it — possibly within about a year.
Will Danny Glover return as Murtaugh?
Gibson still believes the film can be made. Glover revealed an Alzheimer’s diagnosis in July 2026, and no casting has been announced.
