Die Hard Is Getting a Prequel

The sixth installment of the Die Hard franchise will present John McClane’s origin story.

This is pretty meta! Since Hollywood is incapable of leaving well enough alone, a sixth Die Hard is reportedly in development, and it will be a prequel to the 1988 original. But this doesn’t necessarily mean that Bruce Willis won’t be in the movie (because has he changed at all in 30 years? No). From Deadline:

All of this is early, but they are referring to this as Die Hard Year One and I’m told that [director Len] Wiseman and [producer Lorenzo]di Bonaventura are now looking for a screenwriter to script a reinvention of the venerable action series, one that is sort of a prequel while still leaving room for Willis to play McClane as well. Basically, he’ll bookend a story line that will be set much of the action in 1979, when McClane was a cop in gritty New York City and showing how he became a die hard kind of guy.

According to Deadline, Willis has been involved “every step of the way.” He last appeared in the fifth sequel in 2013, A Good Day To Die Hard.

Maybe Ashton Kutcher can play the young McClane in the prequel. (Just kidding, please God no.)

Photos by Everett Collection