Some more light was recently shone on the speculated Die Hard prequel, McClane, including one producer confirming the film is dead.
Producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura spoke with Polygon about the half-prequel, half-reboot Die Hard project, discussing the idea behind the film and why he thinks Disney's recent acquisition of 20th Century Fox has something to do with McClane getting the ax. "It's not happening," Bonaventura said. "But what was really interesting was we actually came up with an idea to do it. It was a project that wasn’t Die Hard that then, eventually, shifted over to Die Hard."
"What was interesting about our idea was it allowed you the ability to meet the young John McClane and use Bruce [Willis]. So it was really interesting in that way. So you sort of got to see both versions of him. A bit [like The Godfather Part 2]," Bonaventura continued. "I don't know what [Disney's] plans are," in regard to the future of the Die Hard franchise and the John McClane character.
McClane would've marked the sixth installment in the action film franchise, with Len Wiseman of 2007's Live Free or Die Hard attached to direct. McClane isn't the first Die Hard film to sport a repurposed script, however, as Die Hard 2 was originally an adaptation of the novel 58 Minutes by Walter Wager before being reworked to star Bruce Willis' John McClane. What's more, the original script for the series' third entry became a Lethal Weapon script after being sold to Warner Bros. before it was eventually sold back to Fox and became Die Hard With a Vengence in 1995.
A full spec script for Die Hard 6 titled Old Habits Die Hard told a prequel story featuring parallel storylines, which made its rounds online in 2013. Since Disney acquired Fox in 2019, though, it's likely that idea has since died just as hard as McClane has.
Although his future on the big screen is uncertain, John McClane did recently join Rambo in Call of Duty's '80s Action Heroes event, which wrapped up last month. The crossover featured other '80s icons, such as Leatherface (Texas Chainsaw Massacre), Micheal Knight (Knight Rider) and Predator.
Source: Polygon