Chris Tucker may be getting ready to revisit two of the roles that helped define his career.
Speaking with Atlanta’s WSB-TV, Tucker confirmed that conversations are active around both Rush Hour 4 and another Friday movie, opening the door to seeing Detective James Carter and Smokey back on the big screen after decades away.
“We have ‘Rush Hour.’ We’re talking about that. We’re talking about another ‘Friday.’ So we’ll see if those happen,” Tucker said.
Getting either movie across the finish line still requires some work.
Rush Hour 4 has faced a sizable salary negotiation involving Tucker and Jackie Chan. The two stars were reportedly offered $8 million each to return and declined, with both seeking numbers closer to the roughly $20 million they earned for Rush Hour 3 in 2007. Negotiations remain ongoing, and people familiar with the situation have characterized the back-and-forth as a normal part of assembling a major studio franchise.
A return to Friday carries a different history.
Tucker played Smokey in the original 1995 film and never returned for its sequels. Ice Cube previously said Tucker rejected a lucrative offer for Next Friday because of religious concerns involving profanity and marijuana use. Tucker later explained that the drug content played a role in his decision, saying he did not want to promote smoking weed to audiences.
That makes the current conversation especially significant. Ice Cube has spent years discussing another Friday, while Mike Epps has also publicly pushed for Tucker to come back for what has long been envisioned as a final chapter.
There are still contracts to negotiate, scripts to finalize and creative questions to answer. Tucker simply acknowledging both projects at the same time gives fans something they have not had in years: a realistic possibility that two of his most beloved characters could finally return.
If the deals happen, it would mark Tucker’s first time playing Carter since 2007 and his first appearance as Smokey since 1995.
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