Bad Boys 4 Adds Fantastic Four Star Ioan Gruffudd

Will Smith and Martin Lawrence first played Mike Lowrey and Marcus Burnett in Michael Bay's Bad Boys back in 1995 and they went on to reprise their roles in Bad Boys II in 2003 and Bad Boys For Life in 2020. After the success of the threequel, which was one of the only movies to have a full run at the box office in 2020 before the pandemic shut everything down, a fourth movie was quickly put into development and it was officially announced to be in the works this January. In addition to Smith and Lawrence, Vanessa Hudgens will be reprising her role as Kelly in the upcoming movie, and more casting announcements are rolling in. According to Deadline, Fantastic Four star Ioan Gruffudd has officially joined the cast.

Deadline reports that Gruffudd will play Lockwood, "a high-profile attorney running for election." Aside from a few new character details, the plot of the fourth Bad Bays movie is currently unknown. However, the new film is expected to follow the ongoing adventures of Mike and Marcus. Bad Boys For Life actors Paola Núnez and Alexander Ludwig are also expected to reprise their roles.

Bad Boys for Life was directed by Batgirl's and Ms. Marvel's Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah who are also returning for the fourth film. Chris Bremner is also returning to pen the script. Jerry Bruckheimer is returning to produce along with Smith for Westbrook and Doug Belgrad. Lawrence, James Lassiter, Chad Oman, Mike Stenson, Barry Waldman, and Jon Mone are serving as executive producers on the project. 

Last week, Lawrence spoke with ET at his Hollywood Walk of Fame induction ceremony, and the actor teased that the fourth movie could be the best of the franchise. 

"It has the chance to be the best one of them all and everybody's doing their thing," Lawrence shared, adding, "we got a lot of the team back from the last one. Big Willie's doing his thing as always and so focused and, yeah, it has the chance to be the biggest one."

Is Bad Boys 4 Currently in Production?

Sony's presentation at CinemaCon on Monday featured a video of Smith and Lawrence updating the crowd in attendance on the fourth Bad Boys' status. ComicBook.com's Brandon Davis was in attendance, sharing updates on the panels, including some of the quotes from Smith.

"We are on set," Smith confirmed in the video. "Sorry we couldn't be there. We glad we not there 'cause we here and they paying us to be here so we're, like, happy to that we're here and not there."

"Bad Boys 4 is coming," he continued. "We are hyped, we excited! Fourth week of shooting!" Smith and Lawrence also introduced Sony Motion Pictures Group president Josh Greenstein, who credited the studio for never wavering on theatrical releases over the past couple of years.

Are you excited about Bad Boys 4? Tell us in the comments!