Fourth Men in Black movie will feature a 'prominent woman in black', because it's 2015 after all

Though Will Smith may not return.

Good guys: Men in Black became the title of a movie in 1997, when Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones linked up, armed with enormous guns and memory-obliterating wands (Rex Features)

"There will be a prominent woman in black in the fourth [film]." Producer Laurie MacDonald recently promised to Newsbeat that the upcoming Men in Black film would finally rectify the gender balance, meaning there might now actually be a point to making a fourth Men in Black film.

MacDonald, along with husband Walter Parkes, also produced the original trilogy; though their plans for this next instalment are currently fairly hazy. "Now we are looking at a reinvention. We are quite early on in it. We sort of look at the first three in retrospect as a bit of trilogy. It sounded silly because it's a fun, science fiction comedy but when you work on these things you sort of try to find some thematic basis underneath it."

Frustratingly, this isn't the first opportunity the franchise has had for a female agent; the original Men in Black ended with Linda Fiorentino's Deputy Medical Examiner, Laurel Weaver, joining the team as Agent J (Will Smith)'s new partner in the wake of Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones)'s heart-warming return to civilian life. Yet, Men in Black II managed to immediately discard the notion, throwing Weaver back into the morgue lest the very presence of a woman distract from the fierce bromance brewing between Agent J and K. Oh, well. Better late than never. 

 

There are, of course, two major questions still left hanging. First off, whether Will Smith will return to the franchise. Reports seem to suggest this won't happen, though Parkes himself has expressed a brighter sense of optimism on the subject. "Never count Will out." 

Secondly, there's the matter of Sony's bonkers Jump Street-crossover concept. Though original rumours suggested this would take the form of a Jump Street sequel, there's still questions as to whether a new Men in Black film would also make reference to the bizarre shared universe.