Thor star Chris Hemsworth may follow in Mel Gibson’s shoes in a planned Lethal Weapon remake/sequel thing. “’80s action star Mel Gibson” and not, you know, Viking helmet and racism Mel Gibson.

According to The Tracking Board, Hemsworth has been offered the starring role in Warner Bros. planned reboot or sequel (it’s not really clear which) of the Lethal Weapon franchise under producer Joel Silver.

The project sounds like an odd one: it’s based on a script that’s been floating around called Lionhunters, following a young man who wants to become a cop against his father’s wishes. That description would argue for some kind of continuation of the Lethal Weapon franchise with Hemsworth coming in as the new blood inexplicably trying to hide an Australian accent. Now all he needs is another cop who is getting too old for this s**t.

The first Lethal Weapon is arguably one of the great action films of the 80s (go ahead and watch it back to back with Die Hard and tell me those movies aren’t perfect), but it’s been hard to replicate the magic of the series since the initial Shane Black/Richard Donner team-up. The series became a slow roll of diminishing returns: Lethal Weapon 2 is pretty inoffensive with enough of the rough and crazy that made the first film work, but by the time Lethal Weapon 3 came along, it was full-on sitcom mode, with wacky Joe Pesci paving the way for the disaster (and hate crime against the career of Jet Li) that is Lethal Weapon 4.

Fast & Furious director Justin Lin is attached to direct, so you know the cars will crash good in it, at least.

What do you think? Who would you like to see play the Murtaugh to Hemsworth’s Riggs? Let us know in the comments below.

HT: The Tracking Board