{"id":588292,"date":"2026-08-09T21:20:12","date_gmt":"2026-08-09T21:20:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/588292\/"},"modified":"2026-08-09T21:20:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-09T21:20:12","slug":"mel-gibson-officially-reveals-first-plot-details-for-lethal-weapon-5-exclusive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/588292\/","title":{"rendered":"Mel Gibson Officially Reveals First Plot Details for ‘Lethal Weapon 5’ [Exclusive]"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nearly three decades after Riggs and Murtaugh last shared the screen, Mel Gibson<\/a> still hasn\u2019t given up on making Lethal Weapon 5<\/a>. The long-discussed sequel has spent years trapped in development, but Gibson has now revealed considerably more about what the movie would actually look like\u2014and why he believes it could be the strongest installment of the entire franchise.<\/p>\n

Speaking with Collider\u2019s Steven Weintraub<\/a> at Fan Expo Boston, Gibson revealed that he and screenwriter Richard Wenk completed the screenplay following the death of legendary director Richard Donner<\/a>, and the actor-filmmaker remains committed to directing the project himself if it can finally escape development hell.<\/p>\n

Gibson first reflected on why the original Lethal Weapon worked, crediting Donner and writer Shane Black<\/a> with making Martin Riggs and Roger Murtaugh more emotionally vulnerable than the action heroes audiences were accustomed to seeing during the 1980s. He then dropped a much bigger update: Donner had already been developing a fifth movie before his death, and Gibson believes the completed screenplay tops everything that came before it.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cDonner realized it. I think he did all of those films, and sadly he\u2019s passed away. But he sort of knew what he had, and Shane Black wrote a good script. It was timely, you know. It was \u201980s. We were used to these tough guys on film who kind of had it all together, but they were tough and two-dimensional in a lot of ways. So this one was better because the main protagonists in the story both had kind of vulnerabilities, and one was crazy, and the other was scared, and it went a little deeper than the usual action flick.”<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were good things about each one, but as you say, they tend to get diluted out there a lot. And, you know, Donner, when he was 90 years old, was working on the fifth, and of course he passed away in the middle. So I got together with the writer, and we completed it thinking, \u2018What would Donner do?\u2019 That\u2019s what we were thinking in the room, and I think that the fifth script is better than all of the others. But it\u2019s tied up in some kind of industrial film hell that you can\u2019t extract it from to make it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Collider Exclusive \u00b7 Sci-Fi Personality Quiz
\n Which Sci-Fi Hero Are You Most Like?
\n Paul Atreides \u00b7 Captain Kirk \u00b7 Princess Leia \u00b7 Ellen Ripley \u00b7 Max Rockatansky<\/p>\n

Five iconic heroes. Five completely different ways of facing an impossible universe. One of them shares your instincts, your values, and your particular way of refusing to back down. Eight questions will tell you which one.<\/p>\n

\ud83c\udfdc\ufe0fPaul Atreides<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udd96Capt. Kirk<\/p>\n

\u270aPrincess Leia<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udd26Ellen Ripley<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udd25Max Rockatansky<\/p>\n

\n FIND YOUR HERO \u2192\n <\/p>\n

01<\/p>\n

How do you lead when the stakes couldn’t be higher?
\n The way you lead under pressure is the most honest thing about you.<\/p>\n

\n AI absorb everything \u2014 every variable, every pattern \u2014 and move only when I know the path forward.
\n BI read the room, make the call, and own the consequences. Hesitation costs more than mistakes.
\n CI rally people. A cause needs a voice, and I refuse to let fear be louder than conviction.
\n DI assess the threat, establish what needs doing, and get it done without waiting for permission.
\n EI don’t lead. I act. Others can follow or not \u2014 I’m already moving.\n <\/p>\n

NEXT QUESTION \u2192<\/p>\n

02<\/p>\n

What is your greatest strength in a crisis?
\n The quality that keeps you alive when everything else fails.<\/p>\n

\n APrescience \u2014 the ability to see further ahead than anyone else and plan accordingly.
\n BImprovisation \u2014 I’m at my best when the plan falls apart and I have to invent a new one.
\n CConviction \u2014 I know what I’m fighting for, and that certainty doesn’t waver under fire.
\n DComposure \u2014 I stay functional when everyone around me is falling apart. Panic is a luxury.
\n EEndurance \u2014 I outlast things. I take the hit and keep moving long after others have stopped.\n <\/p>\n

NEXT QUESTION \u2192<\/p>\n

03<\/p>\n

What is the thing you’d sacrifice everything else for?
\n Your deepest motivation is your truest compass.<\/p>\n

\n AThe survival and dignity of my people \u2014 even if I have to become something frightening to ensure it.
\n BThe safety of my crew \u2014 every single one of them. No one gets left behind.
\n CFreedom \u2014 for my people, for every world still crushed under the weight of an empire.
\n DThe truth \u2014 what actually happened, what’s actually out there, whether anyone believes me or not.
\n EThe one person \u2014 or the one memory \u2014 that still makes any of this worth surviving for.\n <\/p>\n

NEXT QUESTION \u2192<\/p>\n

04<\/p>\n

How do you relate to the people around you?
\n Who you are to others under pressure is who you really are.<\/p>\n

\n AWith intensity and distance \u2014 I care deeply, but the weight I carry makes closeness complicated.
\n BWith warmth and irreverence \u2014 I take the mission seriously, not myself.
\n CWith directness and trust \u2014 I say what I mean, and I expect the people I work with to rise to it.
\n DWith professional care but clear limits \u2014 I’ll protect you, but I won’t pretend we’re family.
\n EWith wariness that slowly becomes loyalty \u2014 I don’t trust easily, but when I do, it holds.\n <\/p>\n

NEXT QUESTION \u2192<\/p>\n

05<\/p>\n

You’re facing a threat that no one else believes is real. What do you do?
\n How you respond when you’re the only one who sees it defines everything.<\/p>\n

\n APrepare in silence. If they won’t listen, I’ll be ready when they finally have to.
\n BKeep pushing until someone listens \u2014 and if no one does, handle it myself.
\n CBuild the case, find the allies, and make the threat impossible to ignore.
\n DDocument everything. The truth matters even if no one believes it yet.
\n EStop trying to convince anyone. Survive it. That’s the only argument that counts.\n <\/p>\n

NEXT QUESTION \u2192<\/p>\n

06<\/p>\n

What has your heroism cost you personally?
\n Every hero pays. The question is what \u2014 and whether they’d pay it again.<\/p>\n

\n AMy innocence \u2014 I’ve seen what I’m capable of, and I can’t unsee it.
\n BPeople I loved \u2014 the command chair has a view, but it’s a lonely one.
\n CA normal life \u2014 I gave up everything ordinary the moment I chose the cause.
\n DMy sense of safety \u2014 I know exactly what’s out there now, and I can’t pretend otherwise.
\n EAlmost everything \u2014 and I’m still not sure what I’m carrying it all for. But I keep going.\n <\/p>\n

NEXT QUESTION \u2192<\/p>\n

07<\/p>\n

How do you feel about the rules of the world you’re in?
\n Every hero has a relationship with the system. What’s yours?<\/p>\n

\n AI understand them deeply \u2014 and I know exactly which ones must be broken, and why.
\n BI respect the spirit of them and bend the letter when the situation demands it.
\n CThe system is the problem. I’m not here to work within it \u2014 I’m here to dismantle it.
\n DI follow protocol until protocol stops being useful. Then I make the call myself.
\n EThe rules collapsed a long time ago. What’s left is instinct, and mine are reliable.\n <\/p>\n

NEXT QUESTION \u2192<\/p>\n

08<\/p>\n

When everything is on the line, what keeps you going?
\n The answer is the most honest thing about you.<\/p>\n

\n ADestiny \u2014 or something that feels so much like it that the difference no longer matters.
\n BThe people on my ship \u2014 their faces, their trust, the fact that they’re counting on me.
\n CThe belief that what we’re fighting for is worth every sacrifice, including this one.
\n DSheer refusal to let it win \u2014 whatever it is. I don’t stop. That’s just who I am.
\n EI’m not sure anymore. But the road is still there, and I’m still on it.\n <\/p>\n

REVEAL MY HERO \u2192<\/p>\n

Your Hero Has Been Identified
\n Your Sci-Fi Hero Is\u2026<\/p>\n

Your answers point to the iconic sci-fi hero who shares your instincts, your values, and your particular way of facing the impossible.<\/p>\n

Arrakis \u00b7 Dune\n <\/p>\n

Paul Atreides<\/p>\n

You carry a weight most people would crumble under \u2014 the knowledge of what you’re capable of, and the burden of what you might have to become.<\/p>\n

You see further ahead than others and you plan accordingly, even when the vision frightens you.
\n You are driven by loyalty to your people and a sense of destiny you didn’t ask for but can’t escape.
\n Paul Atreides is not simply a hero \u2014 he is someone who understands the cost of power and chooses to bear it anyway.
\n That gravity, that willingness to carry what others won’t, is exactly you.<\/p>\n

USS Enterprise \u00b7 Star Trek\n <\/p>\n

Captain Kirk<\/p>\n

You lead with instinct, warmth, and an absolute refusal to accept a no-win scenario \u2014 because you’ve always believed there’s a third option nobody else has thought of yet.<\/p>\n

You take the mission seriously without ever taking yourself too seriously.
\n Your crew would follow you anywhere, not because you demand it, but because you’ve earned it.
\n Kirk’s genius isn’t tactical \u2014 it’s human. He reads people, bends rules with purpose, and wills outcomes into existence through sheer conviction.
\n That combination of warmth, audacity, and relentless optimism is unmistakably yours.<\/p>\n

The Rebellion \u00b7 Star Wars\n <\/p>\n

Princess Leia<\/p>\n

You are the kind of person who holds the line when everyone else is losing faith \u2014 not because you’re fearless, but because giving up simply isn’t something you’re capable of.<\/p>\n

You lead through conviction. Your voice carries because your belief is unshakeable.
\n You gave up everything ordinary the moment you chose the cause, and you’ve never looked back.
\n Leia is not a supporting character in her own story \u2014 she is the moral centre of the entire rebellion.
\n That same fierce, principled, unbreakable core is what defines you.<\/p>\n

The Nostromo \u00b7 Alien\n <\/p>\n

Ellen Ripley<\/p>\n

You are not reckless, not grandiose, and not particularly interested in being anyone’s hero \u2014 you just refuse to stop when it matters.<\/p>\n

You see threats clearly, you document the truth even when no one listens, and when the time comes you handle it yourself.
\n Ripley’s heroism is earned, not performed. She doesn’t have a speech \u2014 she has a flamethrower and a plan.
\n You share her composure under the worst possible pressure, and her refusal to pretend the monster isn’t there.
\n When it counts, you don’t flinch. That’s everything.<\/p>\n

The Wasteland \u00b7 Mad Max\n <\/p>\n

Max Rockatansky<\/p>\n

You have been through fire that would break most people \u2014 and what came out the other side is something the world underestimates at its peril.<\/p>\n

You don’t ask for help, don’t need validation, and don’t wait for anyone to tell you the rules no longer apply.
\n Your loyalty, when it finally arrives, is absolute \u2014 but it’s earned in silence and tested in action, not in words.
\n Max is not a nihilist. He is someone who lost everything and found, against his will, that he still has something worth protecting.
\n That bruised, stubborn, ultimately human core is exactly yours.<\/p>\n

\n \u21bb RETAKE THE QUIZ\n <\/p>\n

What Would ‘Lethal Weapon 5’ Be About?<\/p>\n

Gibson also offered rare details about where Riggs and Murtaugh would be decades after Lethal Weapon 4. Rather than trying to compete with modern blockbusters through gigantic visual effects sequences, the sequel would deliberately return to a smaller, character-driven style.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt only harks back to the others in the minimal way, but it\u2019s a story all on its own. The characters are quite different. They\u2019re older. One\u2019s retired. The other one\u2019s on a desk job. He\u2019s putting on too much weight, and it\u2019s low-tech. It doesn\u2019t 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\u2019s say for instance, Apocalypto<\/a>. It\u2019s a foot chase, right? But it\u2019s kind of filmed like a car chase. So it still has all the elements of what was in the other films, but not nearly so complicated. But it deals more about the people in it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked directly whether he would direct the film himself, Gibson responded without hesitation: \u201cAbsolutely.\u201d And the reason behind that answer is particularly personal, because according to Gibson, Donner explicitly asked him to take over the franchise if the filmmaker was unable to finish the movie himself. \u201cAbsolutely, that was the plan,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Donner, God rest his soul, he said to me in this deep voice, he said, \u2018Hey kid, if I drop off the perch, you\u2019ll take this over, won\u2019t you?\u2019 I said, \u2018Shut up! You\u2019re not going anywhere.\u2019 And of course he did. And, you know, when he passed away, I didn\u2019t say anything. But apparently he had told other people that too, so they all came to me and said, \u2018You direct it.\u2019 I said, \u2018Yeah, okay.\u2019<\/p>\n

Gibson then explained that studio politics played a part<\/a> in why the script never got into the shooting stages, but he expressed hope that, with Warner Bros<\/a>., Paramount<\/a> and whoever else now involved in sorting out Hollywood’s chessboard, the movie may see the light of day at last.<\/p>\n

\u201cRichard Wenk and I finished the script, and we were going to go into production, but it just never got the wheels under it. I think Warner\u2019s got into some quicksand at that time\u2026 so it got buried somewhere, and now I think this David Ellison<\/a> guy over at Paramount has absorbed or will absorb Warners, or it looks like he will. And maybe, maybe they\u2019ll take the chains off that one, and you might see that in another year or so.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gibson offered one final note of optimism near the end of the Fan Expo Boston panel.<\/a> Asked whether he expected to direct another project soon, he once again singled out Lethal Weapon 5 \u2014 with Danny Glover<\/a> also attending the convention. \u201cYeah, I don\u2019t know what. I got about four or five guys, they\u2019re all on the bottom drawer. Sure, I\u2019ll drag something up, and hopefully we can get this Lethal thing up with Danny here. He\u2019s here somewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

There is still no guarantee Lethal Weapon 5 will escape development hell, but Gibson clearly hasn\u2019t abandoned it. Until then, all four Lethal Weapon movies are currently available to stream on Tubi.<\/p>\n

\"lethal-weapon-movie-poster.jpg\"<\/p>\n

Release Date<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMarch 6, 1987<\/p>\n

Runtime<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t110 minutes<\/p>\n

Director<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRichard Donner<\/p>\n

\"instar49825179.jpg\"<\/p>\n

\"Cast<\/p>\n

Danny Glover<\/p>\n

\n Roger Murtaugh\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nearly three decades after Riggs and Murtaugh last shared the screen, Mel Gibson still hasn\u2019t given up on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":588293,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[93,61,60,270],"class_list":["post-588292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-movies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/588292","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=588292"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/588292\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/588293"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=588292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=588292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=588292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}