‘Die Hard 5’ May Be a Family Affair For John McClane and Son

By  · Published on July 30th, 2011

File this under “irrelevant for another couple of years” but news has arrived on the next installment of the Die Hard franchise. If you’re surprised that there’s going to be another one then you clearly haven’t been paying attention. The fourth film, Live Free or Die Hard, is commonly thought to the worst of the series, but that distinction is actually held by Renny Harlin’s Die Hard 2: Die Harder. More important than quality though is the fact that the last installment was the highest grossing of the four. And since it was also the first to be rated PG-13 expect that to be the standard going forward.

Twitch is reporting two bits of news on the film. First up, while the director’s chair is far from locked down they’ve learned that an offer has gone out to John Moore and the job is his if he wants it. He’d be a fool to pass it up… his last movie was the visually impressive but otherwise stupid Max Payne, and his best work remains his feature debut, Behind Enemy Lines. Go ahead and laugh, but it’s a fun flick that looks solid and gets a worthwhile performance out of Owen Wilson. And second, a minor plot detail has arrived in the form of location and characters. It appears the plan is for McClane and his son to encounter trouble in Russia that inevitably results in gunfire, explosions, and a fight scene while balancing on the whirring blades of a helicopter. I made that last part up, but McClane could totally do it.

The last time we saw little John McClane Jr. was as a small boy in the first film and hasn’t been back since, so expect any currently hot actor in their twenties to show up on casting wishlists. Ideally they’d change that son to a daughter and bring back the lovely Mary Elizabeth Winstead to kick some Russkie ass…

Further details are obviously quite a ways off, but the folks over at The Filmstage have an interesting idea as to the identity of McClane’s supposed son. They suggest the son could actually be a son-in-law which would open the door for Justin Long to return after presumably marrying McClane’s daughter. Not a bad idea, but I’d modify it slightly so that Long and Winstead are both present… maybe a honeymoon trip gone awry in Russia?

Rob Hunter has been writing for Film School Rejects since before you were born, which is weird seeing as he's so damn young. He's our Chief Film Critic and Associate Editor and lists 'Broadcast News' as his favorite film of all time. Feel free to say hi if you see him on Twitter @FakeRobHunter.