The Expendables series of films has been immensely successful with each one of the three films of the series released till date raking in huge amounts of box office collections. The last released film of this series was Expendables 3 which hit the big screen back in 2014. Rumors are already starting to build up regarding the next film in the series which is the Expendables 4.
A renowned website reports that both Sylvester Stallone and Jason Statham will be back to reprise their respective roles of Barney Ross and Lee Christmas. Pierce Brosnan who is renowned for dawning the role of James Bond in a number of films of the James Bond series will reportedly make an appearance in the upcoming film too.
It is being rumored that famous Filipino boxer Manny Pacquiao will also be a part of the cast of the upcoming movie. Apart from these, some other actors that are set to appear in the film include the likes of Mel Gibson, Harrison Ford, Randy Couture, Wesley Snipes, Rhonda Rousey, Antonio Banderas, Terry Crews, Dolph Lundgren, Jet Li and Kellan Lutz.
Various reports are also suggesting that renowned WWE stars Hulk Hogan and Dwayne Johnson have expressed their desire to be a part of the upcoming movie. As for Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, he stated that if indeed he is a part of the movie, he will not star in it as one of many good guys.
Rather he would enjoy being a part of it as the villain. He further added that he would take pleasure in hunting down each one of the good guys and sending them to hell.
Stone Cold Steve Austin, another WWE star, who had previously appeared in the first film of the franchise might make a comeback to it with the upcoming movie. It was seen that his character in the first film did not meet his death and thus it is being speculated whether he would be back in Expendables 4.
The film is scheduled to hit the big screen in 2017 and the production unit will begin its filming in the current year. It will be directed by Avi Lerner and its script will be written by Dave Callaham.
In other news, rumors are running wild that Sylvester Stallone will no longer be a part of the movie as an actor. His character of Barney Ross has won kudos from both fans and critics and is one of the most popular characters of the franchise.
Terry Crews, one of the actors of the movie recently stated in an interview that Stallone might think twice about taking on the role of Barney Ross in the upcoming movie. The reason behind this as stated by Crews is that the actor will be focusing on the sequel to the boxing film Creed and thus might abstain from making an appearance in Expendables 4.
Sylvester Stallone reprised his role of Rocky Balboa in the movie Creed where he had to mentor a young boxer who is the son of Apollo Creed, a renowned face in the Rocky series. His portrayal of Rocky Balboa in Creed managed to bag him the Best Supporting Actor award in both the Golden Globes and Critic’s Choice Award.
Terry Crews hinted towards leaving the franchise too in case Stallone decides against appearing in the upcoming film. Crews portrays the character of Hale Caesar in the series and he has been a part of all three Expendables films that have been released till date.
At the interview he was asked whether he would still appear in the upcoming film in case Stallone backs out of it. He replied to this question by stating that Sylvester Stallone is like a father figure to him in the business and if he decides against doing the upcoming film, he would most likely back out to.