Bad Boys Sequel Adds Vanessa Hudgens, Alexander Ludwig, and Charles Melton To Cast

The Bad Boys sequel is officially moving forward, and now it’s added three new actors to the cast, including Vanessa Hudgens, Alexander Ludwig, and Charles Melton.

Hudgens, Ludwig, and Melton will be playing members of a highly specialized police force that will collide with Will Smith and Martin Lawrence, who are used to doing things a bit more old school. Both will have to get on the same page though when a new threat emerges in Miami (via Variety).

According to sources close to the project Smith and Lawrence have been conducting chemistry tests with actors to cast four different roles, and for three of them Ludwig, Hudgens, and Melton ended up securing the roles. There is also a villain role being cast at the moment, but no one has officially nabbed the part.

The third Bad Boys film has very much been a long time coming, as previously Smith has even taken to social media with his frustration in getting it off the ground. The film’s been in limbo for some time, as the last Bad Boys film released in 2003. There’s reportedly been a desire to do the film on both sides, but it seems scheduling issues derailed it for a while. Thankfully Smith was just as excited as he was frustrated previously when he announced the movie was getting the green light in a memorable video with co-star Lawrence.

The film will be directed by Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, based on a script by Peter Craig which was rewritten by Joe Carnahan. Chris Bremmer is the current writer on the project. Producing Bad Boys For Life is Jerry Bruckheimer, Doug Belgrad, and Will Smith, while Barry Waldman, Mike Stenson, Chad Oman, and James Lassiter will serve as executive producers.

As for the actors, Hudgens was recently spotlighted in Netflix’s adorable Christmas film The Princess Switch, and will also soon be seen alongside Jennifer Lopez in Second Act. She will also be part of the cast for FOX’s latest live musical Rent: Live next month. Melton is currently starring as Reggie on CW’s Riverdale and is also part of The Sun Is Also a Star, which hits in 2019. As for Ludwig, he can be seen as Bjorn Lothbrok in Vikings, and will also appear in the film projects Midway and Peace, both of which hit in 2019.

Bad Boys For Life is slated to start production next month and is scheduled to release in theaters on January 17th, 2020.