The fourth entry in the Friday film series is officially happening, and Chris Tucker may be coming with it. In a new interview with Entertainment Tonight, Ice Cube and Mike Epps confirmed that Last Friday is in active development, with shooting expected to start by the end of the year.
"It's going down, it ain't going up," Ice Cube told ET's Kevin Frazier when asked about the film's status.
Tucker, who played the beloved Smokey in the original 1995 film, has long been the subject of fan speculation about whether he would return. Both Cube and Epps suggested he is close to committing.
"We've been talking to him, and he wants to come back," Epps said. Ice Cube added: "He's one of the best. I think he 'gon do it."
Tucker was not the obvious choice for Smokey when the original film was being cast. Cube revealed that In Living Color alum Tommy Davidson and other comedians were considered before Tucker got the part.
"They wanted me to look at Tommy Davidson; they wanted me to look at some of the hot comedians of today. And I was like, 'I want a fresh, new face,'" Cube said.
Tucker's casting proved to be a defining moment not just for him but for an entire generation of comedians. Epps credited the Friday franchise with launching multiple careers.
"This movie broke so many of us as comedians. You come through the Friday university, you guaranteed to have a great career. Me, Katt Williams, Bernie Mac, Chris Tucker, Faizon Love, Terry Crews," Epps said.
Last Friday will follow the events of Next Friday and Friday After Next and focus on gentrification in South Central Los Angeles. The pair did not share additional plot details during the interview. No release date has been announced.
The film's path to production was long. Following a rights dispute with Warner Bros. in 2022, Ice Cube pushed for a deal that would return creative control rather than buying the rights outright. According to Screen Rant, a deal was finally brokered in 2024 after a change in studio leadership, and the film received an official green light at that point.
The original Friday, released in 1995, followed Craig and Smokey, two unemployed friends in South Central L.A., scrambling to pay back a $200 debt to their drug supplier before 10 p.m. The film went on to spawn two sequels and a devoted fanbase that has waited more than two decades for this fourth installment.
