Lethal Weapon Pilot a Go at Fox with Damon Wayans, Sr. to Star
Carissa Pavlica
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Lethal Weapon for TV anyone?
Hilarious buddy cop format with a lot of action? Yes. Sign us up.
Honestly, it seems like a great idea for a television show. One of the few movie ideas that would really make sense in a television format.
It's highly unlikely we'll see Mel Gibson reprising his role as Martin Riggs, the suicidal and highly volatile ex-Special Forces US Army soldier turned LAPD narcotics officer, but we really like the choice of Damon Wayans Sr. to take the role Danny Glover had in the movie.
Wayans will play Sgt. Roger Murtaugh. If it's following in the stead of the movie, he will have recently celebrated an important (and life changing) birthday. Say, his 50th. And he also suffered a minor heart attack. Uh oh.
That sets him up to worry about all sorts of things, like dying.
Riggs, meanwhile, gets his volatility not only from his career choices, but from personal loss. His wife and child were recently killed, and he moved to Los Angeles to start fresh. But it's driven him kind of crazy in the meantime.
Murtaugh being partnered with someone like Riggs, who is all about taking chances and thrusting them into danger at every turn, makes them like fire and ice.
But it does it in a very funny and satisfying way, despite what could seem like heavy material.
It was a successful movie franchise, and with the casting so far, look like they're on the right track to make a good run at TV, too.
What do you think? Does this one have a good shot?
Who would you like to see take the role of Riggs as Wayans' partner?
Lethal Weapon joins Training Day at CBS, straight-to-series Taken at NBC and Frequency at The CW as movies currently in development into TV series.
Carissa Pavlica is the managing editor and a staff writer and critic for TV Fanatic. She's a member of the Critic's Choice Association, enjoys mentoring writers, conversing with cats, and passionately discussing the nuances of television and film with anyone who will listen. Follow her on X and email her here at TV Fanatic.
