Ice Cube and Mike Epps appeared on Entertainment Tonight last week and made it official: Last Friday, the long-awaited fourth installment in the Friday franchise is in the works. The deal is signed. The script is being written. And the team assembled to make it might be the most exciting detail of all.
Cube, who created the original Friday in 1995 alongside DJ Pooh and has starred in all three installments, and Epps, who joined the franchise in Next Friday and Friday After Next, confirmed the news. When the host asked if the film was happening, Epps said, “It’s going down. It ain’t going up. It’s going down.”
The franchise has generated over $121 million at the box office across three films and launched or elevated the careers of an extraordinary roster of Black talent. As Epps shared on Entertainment Tonight, “This movie broke so many of us as comedians. You come through the Friday University, you’re guaranteed to have a great career. Me, Kat Williams, Bernie Mac, Chris Tucker, Faison Love, Terry Crews.”
During a January 2026 appearance on Club Shay Shay, Epps shared that he had been in a writing room with Cube, Aaron McGruder, the creator of The Boondocks, and original Friday co-writer DJ Pooh.
“It’s going to be off the hook,” Epps said.
Details are intentionally limited, but a few things are confirmed. Last Friday will deal with the gentrification of the neighborhood. Craig and Day-Day are back. And when the ET host asked where the two characters are now, Cube was cryptic: “You’ll see. You’ll see. They ain’t top flight no more.”
Filming is expected to begin toward the end of 2026.
The question the internet has been asking since the fourth film was first rumored finally has something approaching an answer. Chris Tucker, whose portrayal of Smokey in the original Friday is one of the most iconic comedic performances in Black cinema history, appears to be on his way back. Tucker did not return for Next Friday or Friday After Next, a decision that has been a point of conversation among fans for over two decades.
“We’ve been talking to him and he wants to come back,” Epps confirmed on Entertainment Tonight. Cube added: “He’s one of the best. I think he’s going to do it.”
The road to Last Friday has not been smooth. Cube has spoken publicly and in detail about years of studio interference that kept the fourth film from getting made. New Line Cinema, which distributed the first three films, rejected multiple scripts.
In a 2024 interview, Cube revealed he had written a script involving Craig and Day-Day running a dispensary, eventually landing in jail, where they reunite with Smokey at a bogus rehab facility. The studio passed.
In the meantime, Cube and Epps will take the Friday celebration live. Their show Every Day Is Friday, part concert, part stand-up, part franchise celebration, hits Long Beach on July 17, featuring Scarface and Warren G.
