REPORT
Men in Black 4 Will Feature
Female Agent in
Prominent Role
P
erhaps the series that cemented Will Smith’s status as box office gold, Men in Black has certainly
seen its ups and downs in public opinion over the
years, although studio desire to continue the franchise
has never really abated. After all, each film has brought
in hundreds of millions of dollars in profit for Sony, regardless of what the critical verdict ended up being. To
that end, franchise producers Laurie MacDonald and
Walter Parkes recently announced that an entirely new
Men in Black trilogy was in development, even though
Smith seems unlikely to return. What exactly the plot of
this new MIB trilogy will be and what characters it will
include currently remains anyone’s guess, but MacDonald and Parkes have now shed some light on the
gender makeup of their revamped team of alien hunters.
Speaking in a BBC interview, the producers revealed
that or the first time ever, a Men in Black film will feature
a female agent in a leading role. The idea of adding a
woman to the main MIB team is not exactly an original
idea, with the concept having been briefly flirted with at
the end of the first Men in Black movie. In the epilogue
to that film, Linda Fiorentino’s Laurel Weaver character
joins the MIB organization as Agent L, and assumes
Agent K’s (Tommy Lee Jones) former spot as Agent J’s
(Smith) partner. Following Men in Black’s massive success, many fans assumed that a sequel centering on the
adventures of J and L was next on the menu. Ultimately
though, producers opted to bring Jones’ K back out of
retirement for Men in Black II, and had J quickly gloss
over L’s absence via a throwaway line saying that she
had returned to civilian life. Men in Black III also brought
K back (albeit partially in the form of Josh Brolin), effectively shutting the door on a female lead being included
in the original MIB series. While it’s hard to imagine that
Fiorentino will be asked back this late in the game, it
could be argued that the addition of a ‘woman in black’
to the MIB roster is an event long overdue. Speaking in
a BBC interview, the producers revealed that or the first
time ever, a Men in Black film will feature a female agent
in a leading role. The idea of adding a woman to the
main MIB team is not exactly an original idea, with the
concept having been briefly flirted with at the end of the
first Men in Black movie. In the epilogue to that film, Linda Fiorentino’s Laurel Weaver character joins the MIB
organization as Agent L, and assumes Agent K’s (Tommy Lee Jones) former spot as Agent J’s (Smith) partner.
Following Men in Black’s massive success, many fans
assumed that a sequel centering on the adventures of
J and L was next on the menu. Ultimately though, producers opted to bring Jones’ K back out of retirement
for Men in Black II, and had J quickly gloss over L’s absence via a throwaway line saying that she had returned
to civilian life. Men in Black III also brought K back (albeit
partially in the form of Josh Brolin), effectively shutting
the door on a female lead being included in the original
MIB series. While it’s hard to imagine that Fiorentino will
be asked back this late in the game, it could be argued
that the addition of a ‘woman in black’ to the MIB roster
is an event long overdue.
21 | BOOM