The Men in Black film series has had a sporadic release schedule, to say the least. Men in Black 2 followed five years after its predecessor’s release in 1997, Men in Black 3 came 10 years later, and then Men in Black: International hit theaters in 2019. The franchise has remained in limbo ever since that last movie, which starred Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson, bombed critically and commercially. Today, however, brings work that a new Men in Black movie is in the works, though it comes with a big question surrounding Will Smith, one of the franchise’s original two leads.
As reported by Deadline, Sony Pictures is looking to bring Men in Black back by having Bad Boys for Life writer Chris Bremner pen the next movie. Although no onscreen talent is attached to what I’ll call Men in Black 5 for now, the publication has heard from insiders that once Bremner has finished writing the script, Will Smith will read through it. The plan for now is, at least in this first draft, for Smith to reprise Agent J, though it’s unclear if this will be in a leading or supporting capacity. Other sources stressed that Smith is not officially attached to Men in Black 5 right now and won’t commit to anything until he’s read Bremner’s script.
