Arnold’s Out, Stallone’s Out - EXPENDABLES 4 Is Falling Apart

Last week, Deadline had a story in which Sylvester Stallone seemed unlikely to come back for a fourth Expendables film due to infighting with Nu Image/Millennium head honcho Avi Lerner. To be honest, I didn’t think another Expendables film was likely to begin with, but without Stallone, I’m not sure what’s left for the franchise, which is a weird thought considering his Expendables character Barney Rubble or whatever has always been such a generic blank.

But he is the leader. And now it appears he leads the cast both onscreen and off. Today we find that Arnold Schwarzenegger has no plans to return to the series without Stallone. Schwarzenegger was never a huge part of the Expendables team, but he did have an extended role in part two and probably the biggest laugh in all of part three (hey, part three is not bad, you guys).

So do they go forward and just turn this theatrical DTV series into an actual DTV series? I’d be down if it meant more focus on Dolph Lundgren’s insane Gunnar Jensen or let Terry Crews’ Hale Caesar do more. Maybe this is what it should have been all along. What if they can truly make this a DTV Fast & Furious, where suddenly they start getting better and better (albeit with a smaller budget and audience)?

A kid can dream. Back in reality, however, things are not looking great for Expendables 4. I’m fine with it. The series was never very good, and both Arnold and Stallone have better things to do. I will miss Kelsey Grammer’s Bonaparte, though.